FICCI welcomes Bush re-election

Welcoming US President George W Bush's second term in the White House, industry bodies on Thursday said it would further strengthen Indo-US trade and economic ties.

Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry expects continuity of US policies towards India and further improvement in Indo-US relations, its president Y K Modi said in a statement in New Delhi.

M K Sanghi, president of Association of Chambers of Commerce said the bilateral economic relations would be further cemented to enable industries from both nations to collaborate intensively in areas of mutual interest under George Bush's presidency.

Welcoming the re-election, PHDCCI president Ravi Wig said, "No matter who comes to power, assurance of political stability and continuity in the world's largest economy is always preferred from Indian industry's point of view".

He hoped the much-hyped issue of outsourcing, a non-issue as far as individual businesses in the US are concerned, would now take a backseat.

Domestic BPO industry would not only continue to flourish as usual, but also pick up on increased momentum under the new administration, Sanghi said.

Modi said FICCI hoped there would be further modification of export licensing policy to encourage cooperation in civil and space programmes.

Modi felt there would now be greater engagement of the private sector for expanded defence cooperation.

FICCI expects more dialogue for developing cooperation in missile defence as well as areas of joint military exercises and accelerated progress in the high technology cooperation group between the two countries.

Following the successful completion of the first phase of Next Steps in Strategic Partnership initiative, he said, "FICCI is optimistic there would be further momentum in the next Bush administration".

The chamber believed the proposed Free Trade Agreement between Indian and American business leaders in the service sector would boost India's outsourcing and hoped that such a deal would relax visa restrictions on the movement of Indian engineers, software programmers, scientists, accountants and other professionals to the US.

The Assocham chief hoped the Bush administration's focus on external economic policies as pursued in its previous regime would not only continue, but would further intensify towards south-east Asia, including India.

Wig expressed the hope that the instability in the international prices of oil and other commodities like gold and steel on account of political uncertainty, would also be quelled.