With the first official state visit of the Obama administration, President Obama on Tuesday greeted India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in an official welcoming ceremony that was full of pomp and circumstance. The visit marks the arrival of India as a major world economic power.
U.S. State Department Under Secretary William Burns, speaking on NPR News Morning Edition, said, “Few relationships will matter more to the course of human events in the 21st century than the partnership between India and the United States. India, as all of you know very well, is a rising global power, soon to be the world’s most populous country, with a trillion-dollar-plus economy.”
During the visit, the U.S. Treasury and India’s Ministry announced a new economic partnership. The full press release is reproduced below:
U.S. Treasury and India’s Ministry of Finance Announce Historic Partnership to Guide Economic Cooperation
Secretary Geithner to Visit India in Early 2010
WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee announced the establishment today of a new U.S.-India Economic and Financial Partnership to strengthen bilateral engagement and understanding on macroeconomic, financial sector, and infrastructure-related issues. Secretary Geithner will visit India in early 2010 for the Partnership’s launch with Finance Minister Mukherjee.
Both countries recognize the importance of expanding bilateral economic engagement, noting the rapid growth of U.S.-India economic ties and the increasing range of global macroeconomic and financial issues on which the United States and India cooperate. The Economic and Financial Partnership is a significant elevation of existing bilateral and multilateral economic dialogue between the United States and India, and will serve as a platform for greater cooperation on economic issues of importance to both nations.
The Partnership will focus on three broad areas for discussion – macroeconomic policy, the financial sector, and infrastructure development – and will meet at the Cabinet level once a year, alternately in the United States and India, led by Secretary Geithner and Minister Mukherjee. Working group and sub-cabinet level meetings will be held throughout the year to advance discussions on specific economic policy areas.
Additional details on the Partnership and its launch in 2010 will be announced in the months to come.
Investors interest in India might look to the IPath MSCI India exchange-traded note (symbol: INP).
[Disclosure: Trafalgar Investment Advisers LLC's Model Portfolio and some of its clients have a long position in INP]
Gregg D. Killoren
victoria1014
