Bengaluru Nov 7 (IANS) A bilateral agreement in the IT sector between India and the US would benefit many sectors including defence and aerospace said a top official of an American advisory services firm on Tuesday.
"A bilateral US-India IT sector agreement will benefit many sectors such as defence aerospace banking science and technology infrastructure and flow of people " said The Stern Group Chairwoman Paula Stern at the two-day conference on Unlocking US-India Trade Potential organised by the US Consulate General with the Atlantic Council.
The Washington-based Stern Group provides advisory services in business and government strategy. Its services include broker connections with governments resolving commercial disputes and developing political and economic policy campaigns.
Stern a former chairperson of the US International Trade Commission also asked India to take the lead in the sectoral focus to strengthen a bilateral US-India trade presence in the Indo-Pacific region as this would allow India to serve its grander strategic and economic objectives.
"In doing so India will be handing the US a step up that will help it regain American geostrategic leadership " she said
With North America accounting for about 60 per cent of the $150-billion Indian software services and IT product exports annually and iun view of the inter-linkages between the two nations in IT e-commerce and cyber security Stern said the sectoral agreement would facilitate a grander convergence and reinforce security capacity and inter-operability.
"The proposal has merit geo-strategically economically and politically. Addressing tariffs and regulatory issues will benefit trade for both nations " she said.
US Consul General Robert Burgess Infosys co-founder and Chairman Nandan Nilekani and Atlantic Council Director Bharath Gopalaswamy attended the conference.
--IANS
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