The focus of the bilateral relationship between India and the United States of America has changed in the past several years from H1-B visas to trade, and different sectors of the economy.
Speaking to the media at the US-India Defense Ties Conference on Wednesday, Joel Starr, Deputy Assistant Secretary Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, US Department of State said, “I was here 19 years ago. I was here in Bangalore working for a member of Congress from California. You know what the number one issue was? H1-B visas. That is not the issue any more. It is all about trade, it is more about jobs here and also US and all sectors of the economy.”
Adding to this, Joel Reifman, Consul General, US Consulate General in Hyderabad said that both the countries have shared issues and that he sees a ‘great increase in defence collaboration’. Underscoring the increase in bilateral trade between the two countries, Mr. Reifman said that this was $ 20 billion in 2001. This number has grown to $142 billion in 2018.
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Describing Hyderabad as a ‘microcosm of best practices for developing industry, and US – India cooperation’, he said that the city has been successful in encouraging a ‘wealth of clusters’ in IT and also in the defence sector, with marquee US defence firms such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing and GE dropping anchor.
“The aerospace and defence sector is growing very rapidly and it is extremely fitting that the first US-India Defense ties occurs here in Hyderabad and it is easy to talk generally about the progress in the relationship. We are here to help push that progress,” he said.