Washington, DC
March 8, 2010

Foreign Secretary will be visiting Washington and New York from March 14-19th 2010. She will be co-chairing the 7th meeting of the India – US High Technology Cooperation Group (HTCG) with Dennis F. Hightower, Deputy Secretary of Commerce on March 15-16. This is the first meeting of the HTCG after the new administration assumed office in the US. Both sides hope to consolidate the progress made in the last five years and move ahead to significantly expand bilateral trade in strategic and high technology areas. 

The HTCG was formed in 2002 to provide a forum for discussing U.S.-India high-technology trade issues and building the confidence necessary to facilitate trade in sensitive items. The U.S.-India Business Council (USIBC) will host the industry dialogue on March 15, 2010 in Washington, DC. This industry dialogue is organized in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

During this meeting, U.S. and Indian industry representatives have an opportunity to discuss ways in which the two governments can facilitate trade in specific industry sectors, and make suggestions to the Governments of India and the USA. These industry suggestions provide substantive input for bilateral government meetings that occur the following day. 

Apart from meetings in the Commerce Department, FS will also be meeting senior members of the US Administration as well as the US Congress during her stay in Washington. 

India and the US had agreed on establishing a Strategic Dialogue to be co-chaired by EAM and Secretary of State and also a revised Dialogue Architecture last year during the visit of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to India. FS in her meetings in the State Department will review the progress made on various elements of the revised dialogue architecture and also discuss the way ahead in preparation for the visit of EAM to the US later this year for the next round of Strategic Dialogue. Regional and global issues of mutual interest would also figure in these talks.