Washington: The Biden administration and leaders from the corporate sector in the US have welcomed economic reforms introduced by the Indian government, pointed out Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
"The reforms that the Indian government has undertaken, particularly the steps taken for the withdrawal of the retrospective tax has been mentioned by the United States administration as a positive step," she said.
The businesses with whom they have been interacting have also welcomed that decision, Sitharaman told the media here at the conclusion of the Washington DC leg of her US trip. From here, she will go to New York for an interactive session with the business community before flying back home. It may be recalled that she started her week-long trip from Boston.
Responding to a query on a trade deal with the US, the Finance Minister said her focus was on investment incentivising agreement for which there is time till December. "We have spoken about it. The two countries would like to carry on the negotiation and conclude at the earliest," she said.
"But on the larger issue of the trade itself, is something which Commerce Ministry is working together with the American counterpart. So, I have not engaged in-depth into that," she said. She is no stranger to India and US ties as she played a vital role during her previous stints as the Commerce and Defence Minister, this was Nirmala's first trip to the US after the COVID-19 pandemic hit both countries.
In addition to participating in the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank here, her visit highlighted India's economic recovery and her government's commitment to long-term reforms. On the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank discussions, Nirmala had more than 25 bilateral meetings, the most significant of those was the India-US Economic and Financial Partnership.
That meeting was co-chaired by the Finance Minister and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. The discussions touched on key areas of economic recovery from the pandemic to macro economic outlook; cooperation on global economic matters; climate finance support to infrastructure funding and combating of financing of terrorism.
She had a series of meetings with business leaders both in Boston and Washington DC. A dinner in her honour hosted by India's Ambassador to the US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, at India House, was attended by top US officials, including Special Presidential Envoy on Climate Change John Kerry, World Bank President David Malpass, USAID Administrator Samantha Power and Surgeon General Dr Vivek Murthy. These engagements provided an opportunity to highlight structural reforms which the government has brought during the pandemic.
Also read: Indo-US ties no longer just another partnership: PM Modi
