INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
A file photo of Chief Economic Adviser Arvind SubramanianWashington: The India-US relationship cannot realise its full potential without
stronger economic bond, Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian has said
The chief economic advisor is currently in Washington DC to attend the annual Spring Meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the
World Bank.Subramanian said that there were some aspects of the India-US relationship which were doing extremely well, especially on the
strategic side and the defence side."But, I also do believe that in the long run, unless economic ties bind us more closely together, this
will always be a kind of relationship that will have not realised its full potential," he said."I was a great proponent of the US-India free
trade agreement idea some time ago
Of course, we all have to recalibrate our notions and expectations and so on," Subramanian said on the occasion of the launch of
Washington-chapter of CUTS International, an Indian think-tank."However, I still continue to think that this is a terribly important
relationship, the US-India relationship for all the reasons that all of you know about shared values, democracies and of course not to
mention the critical role that the Indian diaspora plays in the US," Subramanian said.He said the two countries should start thinking
creatively about how to sustain this relationship."At this stage it's really hard for me to come up with really a kind of creative ideas on
this," he said.Noting that India has benefited from an open global trading system in the past and its economic fortunes in the long run
depend on an open trading system, Subramanian said it was "terribly important" for India and the US to work towards sustaining this open
relationship."So, I think we need to work much more closely together in all forms
I do think that, my own personal view is that, hopefully we'll ride out the current problems of attitudes to the trading relationships
But in the medium run, it's up to countries like India, many middle-income countries like India, medium-sized countries to sustain an open
global trading environment," he said.Asserting that the Indo-Pacific is and is going to continue to be the world's economic center of
gravity for a very long time, Subramanian said India has to be well-positioned in order to both contribute to and take advantage of this
kind of opportunity."I think, India will also have to prepare itself at some stage to being a part of this whatever the trading
relationships that emerged," he said.India was "not there yet" in terms of its own domestic preparedness to enter these relationships, he
said."But I think at some stage we will have to be
All that the government is doing is should go some way towards preparing us for this," the chief economic advisor said.Subramanian said
there is now a real opportunity for India and the US to cooperate on coal
PTI LKJ CHT(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
