<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER  No. 2068 -- 10/27/2009 >>>>>

web version:
http://blog.vdare.com/archives/2009/10/27/india-asks-for-more-h-1b-visas-us-
noncommital/

U.S Trade Representative Ron Kirk met with Indian Commerce Minister Anand
Sharma for the U.S.-India Trade Policy Forum (TPF) meeting in India. One of
India's top agenda items was to get more H-1B visas, but all they got was
lip service.

This is what Kirk had to say about the meeting:

http://www.ustr.gov/about-us/press-office/press-releases/2009/october/remark
s-united-states-trade-representative-ron-kir
Remarks of United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk at the Trade Policy
Forum Press Conference

   Let me begin once again by expressing my gratitude on behalf of our
   entire United States delegation to Minister of Commerce and
   Industry Anand Sharma, and Commerce Secretary Khullar for their
   extraordinary hospitality in helping to host and welcome us for
   what has been a wonderfully productive sixth U.S.-India Trade
   Policy Forum.

So, India gave our trade representatives the Taj Motel red carpet service.
Kirk's statement was the typical boilerplate that follows international
meetings. By "productive" Kirk probably means that they didn't throw spicy
curry in each others face.

According to India's Economic Times:

   On the issue of a more liberal visa regime for Indian professionals,
   the US assured India that it would take up the issue with the US
   immigration department and see what changes could be made. "We have
   made a note of India’s concerns and are going to certainly discuss
   it with our colleagues (in the immigration department),"
   Mr Kirk said.

Kirk is giving them a skillful bureaucratic answer that commits the U.S. to
nothing. The Indians probably didn't realize that there is no "immigration
department" in the U.S., although we do have the USCIS. Of course the only
ones that can actually do anything about immigration are our Congress,
which Kirk forgot to mention (tsk! tsk!). Hopefully the Indians don't
figure this out before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visits the US next
month (don't worry -- none of those guys read my writings). LOL!

From the sounds of things, there wasn't as much cooperation as everyone is
claiming:

  ‘In the much talked about example, we open up our agricultural market
   to Indian mangos. These freely flow into our country. In return, we
   had hoped to export pistachios, which are very strong staple of your
   diet, not grown domestically and high-end motorcycles. Today, not
   one Harley Davidson motorcycle has been sold in India,’ he added.

Here is a family of 5 on Motorcycle in India that would probably love
to own a Harley.
http://video.yahoo.com/watch/60441/590217

The mango controversy never seems to die. First it was mangos for nukes and
H-1Bs, now it's mangos for pistachios and motorcycles. In my opinion that's
a very big improvement! If you don't know what I'm talking about then you
probably haven't seen my world renowned video: "Mangos that Glow in the
Dark".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgukFLIzOCw


For more background, be sure to read the newsletter that was published
before the meeting took place:

http://blog.vdare.com/archives/2009/10/20/india-to-ask-us-for-more-h-1b-visa
s/
India to ask US for more H-1B visas

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/services/travel/vi
sa-power/Kirk-promises-to-take-up-Visa-issue-in-US/articleshow/5166332.cms

Kirk promises to take up Visa issue in US

27 Oct 2009, 0044 hrs IST, ET Bureau
NEW DELHI: India and the US have decided to intensify cooperation in the
area of liberalising trade & investment, strengthening intellectual
property and building a digital library on traditional knowledge. In the
bilateral trade forum meeting on Monday, US trade representative Ron Kirk
also assured commerce & industry minister Anand Sharma that his department
would take up the issue of liberalising visa regime for Indian
professionals with the US immigration department that handles the issue.

“We have decided to work on a framework on cooperation on trade and
investment and two agreements on intellectual property cooperation and on
traditional knowledge digital library,” Mr Sharma said addressing a press
conference. While stating that there was no timeline for concluding these
agreements, the minister said that they would be concluded soon.

The US pushed for a number of concessions on the trade front including
opening up the Indian market for pistachios and lowering of duties on the
US iconic bike Harley Davidson. “Only one Harley Davidson has been
imported by India so far,” the USTR said stressing that the import duties
were prohibitive. He added that India should open its markets for
pistachios from the US just like the US had allowed imports of Indian
mangoes.

While the framework on cooperation on trade and investment will identify
ways to increase trade and facilitate investments, the agreement on
intellectual property will attempt to give ``comfort and reassurance’’
to investors in both the countries about the safety of their innovations,
the minister said. He added that India had already made a number of changes
in the IPR regime to make it strong.

USTR Ron Kirk said in his press conference that it was a point of concern
that even after 14 years of discussions, India remained in the priority
watch list of the US as far as intellectual property was concerned. He,
however, added that it was heartening to see that India was making changes
at the intellectual property and judicial level to have a stronger regime.
In an effort to check bio-piracy and protect its traditional knowledge,
India also impressed upon the US on the need to build a digital library of
traditional knowledge in both countries so that unscrupulous individuals
and organisation trying to patent a product or its use that has been known
to people through generations get caught.

US had earlier granted patents for medicinal uses of neem and haldi, which
was later withdrawn when India took up the issue with the US government and
proved that it was part of India’s traditional knowledge.

On the issue of a more liberal visa regime for Indian professionals, the US
assured India that it would take up the issue with the US immigration
department and see what changes could be made. "We have made a note of
India’s concerns and are going to certainly discuss it with our
colleagues (in the immigration department)," Mr Kirk said.

Mr Sharma said that the Indian side had pointed out to the US the important
role played by Indian IT professionals in their country and the employment
that Indian IT companies had generated.

With bilateral trade exceeding $ 43 billion in 2008, India is the 18th
largest supplier of goods to the US market, while the US is India’s
second largest goods supplier. The India-US trade policy forum meeting,
which began in 2005, met for the first time under the Barak Obama
administration.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

http://www.vattal.com/india-should-open-market-to-us-companies-ron-kirk/


India Should Open Market to US Companies: Ron Kirk

Posted by admin on Oct 26th, 2009 22:20:01 and filed under Breaking News,
Business, National. ShareThis

New Delhi, Oct 26 -- The US has asked India to further improve its
intellectual property regime and open its market for US firms, even as both
countries worked towards finalising a framework agreement on trade and
investment, which will be signed soon.

‘We have made great progress towards a formal framework towards
cooperation on trade and investment which we hope to sign in the very near
future,’ visiting US Trade Representative Ron Kirk told reporters Monday
after co-chairing the sixth annual India-US Trade Policy Forum with Indian
commerce minister Anand Sharma here.

Kirk was in India earlier in September when he attended the
mini-ministerial meeting of the the World Trade Organisation on the Doha
Round trade talks. Sharma visited Washington earlier this month.

Describing the meeting as ‘extraordinarily productive’, Kirk said that
one of the goals for travelling to India within two months was to
‘improve the tone and frankness of the discussion’.

These discussions will further strengthen trade ties between the two
countries ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to US next
month, he said.

There was ‘room for improvement, especially in strengthening of
intellectual property and access of US goods and financial services into
Indian markets,’ said the US official.

Kirk said the US would like to see ‘more improvement and openness’ in
the investment environment for US businesses in India.

‘In the much talked about example, we open up our agricultural market to
Indian mangos. These freely flow into our country. In return, we had hoped
to export pistachios, which are very strong staple of your diet, not grown
domestically and high-end motorcycles. Today, not one Harley Davidson
motorcycle has been sold in India,’ he added.

India-US trade doubled in the last three years. India’s exports to the US
were $20.7 billion (Rs.93,200 crore), which is over 12.7 percent of its
total exports, while imports were $21 billion.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Commerce Minister Sharma said
India has assured the US of strengthening its intellectual property regime.

‘IPR is a serious issue. The Indian industry also wants strong copyrights
against violations. Both countries have agreed on IPR cooperation and we
hope to sign it soon,’ he said.

The minister added that he took up the issue of raising the cap on visas
for skilled workers (H-1B) in his meeting with the US trade official.

‘We have raised our concerns before the US representative and have given
them the details in this regard. They have identified it and understood the
seriousness of the issue,’ he said.

H-1B visas, which are non-immigrant US visas for skilled professionals,
given for up to six years, are highly popular with Indian IT companies.


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