United States Transportation Secretary Norman Y Mineta, who signed the landmark US-India Open Skies Agreement with India's Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel in April 2005, has exhorted American companies "to explore opportunities in India's dynamic transportation sector", declaring that, "India is indeed on the right path to creating a transportation system for tomorrow."
Mineta, keynoting a roundtable conference on 'India's Infrastructure Challenges and Opponrtunities', organised by the US-India Business Council and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, told nearly 100 representatives of leading American companies ranging from Boeing to Raytheon and Pratt & Whitney to Honeywell that economically US-India ties "continue to grow by leaps and bounds", with the US being India's largest trading partner and largest source of foreign direct investment.
Thus, he predicted that "prospects for greater economic growth in both nations make the future expansion of trade a near certainty".
But, Mineta argued that there's no gainsaying that "for greater trade cooperation to have a meaningful impact, you have to have the right transportation infrastructure in place", and noted that "as many of you know, the development of transportation infrastructure is critical to economic growth".
"The evidence is overwhelming that safe, secure, reliable, and efficient transportation systems facilitate and stimulate commerce," he added.
Mineta said the Open Skies agreement he signed with Patel, "is already reaping dividends for airlines on both sides", and pointed out that "the agreement is expanding existing services and introducing new services to meet the needs of the fast developing US-India aviation market."
However, he acknowledged that, "still, for all the great strides that we've taken, there is more to be done", and said, "One such area is aviation infrastructure. Airports, air traffic control systems, aviation safety systems, and aircraft certification" all afforded opportunities for additional US-India cooperation.
"Largely as a result of sound economic policies adopted by the government of India and Minister Patel, India's domestic air traffic is rapidly expanding, and just as in the United States, forecasts show substantial growth for years to come," he said.
Consequently, he said, "The challenge is creating the infrastructure needed to accommodate this growth -- safely, securely, and efficiently."
Mineta said he was convinced that there was "much that our Federal Aviation Administration can do in partnership with India's Civil Aviation Authority", and announced that it gave him "great pleasure to announce that the FAA is opening its first-ever liaison office in India".
He disclosed that it would be located in New Delhi and be staffed full-time by a permanent FAA representative and declared that "the opening of this office underscores India's growing aviation importance in the region".
"It's a firm commitment from President Bush to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of our deepening relationship, a relationship based on trust and cooperation," Mineta said.
Mineta said that as in aviation, he saw "similar opportunities in the maritime and road transport sectors as well". He pledged that the US Maritime Administration and the US Federal Highway Administration stood ready to partner with their Indian counterparts "as India looks aggressively to expand its maritime and surface infrastructure".
