India seeks US support for membership of multilateral export control regimes

India has sought an early removal of the US export control regime as applicable to India and urged Washington to support its membership of the multilateral export control regimes.

Commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma, who met his US counterpart secretary of commerce Gary Locke in Washington on Thursday, sought their removal ahead of the forthcoming visit of President Obama to India.

Sharma emphasised the need for pruning of the US entity list to remove Indian government entities.

Both leaders reviewed the progress in the India-US bilateral trade and investment relations and also discussed the outlook for the global economy.

Sharma also raised the issue of visas for Indian professionals and skilled workers and emphasised the need for an active dialogue with the end objective of launching negotiations on a Totalisation Agreement. Due to the absence of such an agreement, Indian companies in the US were making double payments of social security, without getting any benefits, he pointed out.

He highlighted the contributions of Indian companies in the US economy and invited US companies to participate in Indian infrastructure development projects. The areas where both sides could cooperate include education and development of standards in smart grid for energy efficiency.

The US commerce secretary raised issues like India's decision regarding local content requirements in connection with its National Solar Mission, mandatory transfer of technology in the telecom sector to Indian manufacturers within three years of selling equipment to any Indian operator and nuclear liability.