India-US Strategic and Commercial Dialogue

The initiative was mooted in 2015 when the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Barack Obama decided to elevate the India-US Strategic Dialogue to a Strategic and Commercial Dialogue, reflecting the significance of the trade and economic engagement between the two countries, the Union Ministry of Commerce & Industry said on Monday.

The first S&CD plenary was held in September 2015 at Washington D.C and identified the focus areas of cooperation under the two tracks – Strategic and Commercial. The current S& CD would be reviewing the progress made so far in strengthening the agreed upon issues and lay down the road map for the ensuing year, under the two tracks, the Union ministry said.

The second S&CD Plenary will be led from the Indian side by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Nirmala Sitharaman while the US delegation will be led by Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Commerce and Penny Pritzker.

Two Co-Chairs from the CEO Forum,Cyrus Mistry, Chairman of Tata Group from Indian side and Dave Cote, Chairman and CEO of Honeywell International from US side will also be present at the S&CD plenary.

The Forum during its meeting held in January, 2015 and September, 2015 had submitted comprehensive recommendation covering various issues across the sectors, which the governments on both sides took into account and encouraged more business to business exchanges.

On the sidelines of the S&CD, a Round-table is also being organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) to discuss the issues relating to Standards and Conformity assessment on Monday.