After the Congress secured an unexpected victory at the recently held Lok Sabha polls, United States President Barack Obama issued a statement, saying he looks forward to "continuing to work with the Indian government to enhance the warm partnership between our two countries."
However, the Obama administration has not yet taken any decisive steps toward cementing Indo-US ties, observes a report from California's Pacific Council on International Policy and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry in New Delhi.
"Although his administration is still in its early days, Barack Obama has not yet displayed much interest in continuing the Bush administration's high-profile engagement with India," the San Francisco Chronicle quotes the report as saying.
The report, which has been complied by a group headed by former US envoy to India Richard Celeste and FICCI secretary general Amit Mitra, lists some steps that the Obama administration can take to strengthen the ties between the two countries.
The report points out that Obama's proposals to restrict the H-1B visa programme "have stirred considerable anxiety, even ire, in India".
Obama should keep his campaign promise to 'fast track' employment-based visas for foreign students with technical degrees from US colleges, the San Francisco Chronicle quotes the report as saying. There are nearly 94,000 Indian students studying at US universities currently.
America and India, which have failed to reach an agreement at the World Trade Organisation's negotiations at Doha, eliminate barriers in the green-tech sector, in addition to "promoting investment flows, and clarifying intellectual property protections and technology-transfer rights", the San Francisco Chronicle quotes the report as saying.
India already has free trade agreements with South Korea and the Association of South East Asian Nations, and is negotiating similar deals with Japan and the European Union, the report points out.
Both India and US depend on coal 'for the foreseeable future', the San Francisco Chronicle quotes the report as saying. The report further suggests that the two countries can consider a joint "commercial-scale demonstration of advanced coal technologies, such as underground coal gasification and carbon capture and sequestration," says the San Francisco Chronicle.
The report advocates that Obama should meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh "to define their mutual vision for economic interaction in the years ahead." The report is scheduled to be released on June 24 and will also be available on www.pacificcouncil.org, says the San Francisco Chronicle.
