By Fakir Balaji
Bangalore, Aug 7 (IANS) Cashing in on the upswing in ties following the visit of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Sep 10-11 India-US trade summit in New York will explore collaborations in diverse sectors to boost investments in both countries.

“The summit for US-India Trade and Economics (SUITE 2009) will focus on investment-driven collaborations in education, environment, power and energy, business and financing, IT, infrastructure, food processing and healthcare,” said Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (IACC) secretary general R.K. Chopra.

Senior representatives of governments and trade bodies of both sides will participate in the event that will showcase business and investment opportunities.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and New York mayor Michael Bloomberg are among the prominent leaders who will address the summit.

The Indian government will be represented by Commerce Minister Anand Sharma, Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, Food Processing Industries Minister Subodh Kant Sahay and Minister of State for IT and Communications Gurudas Kamat.

“We want to leverage potential synergies with the US as a strategic partner.

About 100 chief executives from India Inc, senior officials, policy makers, entrepreneurs and experts in legal, finance and healthcare sectors have confirmed their participation,” Chopra told IANS.

Heads of American firms, academic experts and consultants will also be present.

From this tech hub, global networking products major Cisco’s Indian subsidiary, IT bellwether Wipro and Quest will be among the firms representing large, medium and small enterprises.

“The summit will provide a forum to exchange views on various aspects of business between India and the US, including investment in both the countries,” Chopra said.

Though bilateral trade nearly tripled to $42 billion in 2007-08 from $14 billion in 2000, the financial crisis and the subsequent recession in the US have dipped Indian merchandise exports in the first five months of 2009 to $8.5 billion from $10.9 billion in the year-ago period.

In 2008, US exports to India were $17.68 billion while imports from India stood at $25.7 billion.

Similarly, in services trade, Indian exports increased steadily to $9.35 billion in 2007 from $1.89 billion in 2000, while imports from the US gathered momentum to touch $9.6 billion in 2007 from $2.54 billion in 2000.

According to the US Bureau of Economic Analysis, travel, passenger and transport segments accounted for 45 percent of total services from the US to India.

Educational services contributed 24 percent, business, professional and technical services 14 percent and royalties and licence fees 10 percent.

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) estimates the bilateral trade will double every three years to touch a whopping $320 billion by 2018.

A CII report entitled “India-US Economic Relations: The Next Decade” said considering that India accounts for a mere 1.3 percent of the US trade, there was huge potential to increase bilateral business in the next 10 years. It recommended a comprehensive economic cooperation agreement, covering goods and services.

“As the only bilateral trade body between the two countries, we will take the initiative to advocate India as an innovation partner,” said IACC Karnataka wing’s chairman Vasanth Kini.

In this context, the chambers advocated incentives to US firms for setting up research and development (R&D) centres in India.

The Indian delegation will also showcase opportunities in the healthcare sector, especially wellness tourism.

“The untapped areas for investments and partnerships are verification and legal services, aerospace, insurance and healthcare. The three agreements signed in nuclear, space and defence areas during Hillary Clinton’s visit pave the way for greater collaborations in other areas,” Kini said.

(Fakir Balaji can be contacted at fakir.b@ians.in)