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Protectionism cannot be allowed to hinder opportunities, says Bush

NEW DELHI, India - 03/04/06 - The US aims to double two-way trade with India over three years and "should see this rapidly growing nation as a land of opportunity instead of a threat," said President George Bush during his recently concluded three-day visit to the world's largest democracy.

"America's best response to globalization is not to erect economic barriers to protect workers, but educate them to make sure they can compete on any stage," he said.

The US, he said, "will not give into the protectionists and lose these opportunities. For the sake of workers in both our countries, America will trade with confidence."

According to US Trade Representative Rob Portman (USTR), who accompanied the president on his visit, the US and India plan on fully doubling the current value of trade between the two countries to $54 billion in 2008.

The $27 billion in trade last year amounted to only about 10% of the value of two-way trade between the US and China.

During their talks, the president and India Prime Minister Manmohan Singh agreed to support bilateral trade and investment, including expanding cooperation in agriculture through the Knowledge Initiative on Agriculture.

The initiative will be a "three-year financial commitment to link our universities, technical institutions, and businesses to support agriculture education, joint research, and capacity building projects including in the area of biotechnology," according to a joint statement.

In addition, India and the US endorsed a working plan to promote agricultural trade, including efforts to open the US market to Indian mangoes.

The plan also grants India the authority to certify that shipments of Indian products to the US meet the organic standards established by the US Department of Agriculture.

Some expansion of trade could also flow from a nuclear power agreement the US and India announced during Bush's visit.

Under the agreement India could purchase from the US and other countries nuclear fuel and nuclear reactor parts; India would allow international inspections of 14 nuclear power reactors it designates for the country's enormous civilian-energy needs.

Portman cited US companies' comparative advantage in supplying services and technology for commercial development of nuclear-power generation.

The agreement also calls for India to participate in the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) initiative and will participate and help fund the "FutureGen" international public-private partnership that was created to "develop new, commercially viable technology for a clean coal near-zero emission power project," he said.

The two countries also created the Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate in which they will cooperate with other countries in the region to pursue sustainable development and to meet increased energy needs while also addressing concerns of energy security and climate change.

The president and the Indian prime minister also issued a joint statement on trade reaffirming their commitment to completing the long-stalled World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations by the end of 2006.

Portman viewed the Indian leader's as "important," saying that "recognition that developing countries must open their markets more to imports of manufactured goods and services at the same time as wealthy countries sharply reduce their agricultural tariffs and subsidies."

Bush and Portman are in Pakistan for the next several days to finish-up the details of a bilateral investment treaty protecting investors' rights and encouraging transparent, market-oriented treatment for investment.

"There is still a possibility of us reaching agreement," said the USTR. "It would require some changes for Pakistan, and we are not there yet, but we are still hopeful that we can conclude this during the president's visit."

With a country as large as India and with a growing economy, he said, "Certainly it is in our interest to expand trade."

The USTR and trade ministers from India, Brazil, the European Union (EU), Japan, and Australia will be meeting in London March 10-12 to try to shape the outline of a WTO deal ahead of April 30 deadlines for agreeing on modalities - detailed formulas for tariff reductions - for agricultural and industrial goods.

The WTO negotiations - also known as the Doha Development Agenda, or Doha Round - have laid fallow almost since their launch in 2001 in large part because of on-going differences involving politically-sensitive agricultural issues.

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