Deals worth $15 bn to create 54,000 jobs in US; President unveils reform of export controls.
President Barack Obama came, saw and conquered many hearts — over 400 of them — assembled at the Trident Hotel in South Mumbai here today.
In a speech at the US-India Business Council summit, Obama, who arrived in India earlier in the day along with wife Michelle, announced $15 billion in business deals that he said will create 54,000 jobs in the US — a move which many observers said was aimed at showing folks back home the economic dividend from his three-day visit to India.
The deals include those involving Boeing aircraft, General Electric engines, a Harley Davidson assembly plant, Duke Medicine of Durham, NC, and Bell Helicopter of Hurst, Texas. While most of these had been pending for months, Obama’s visit, the first leg of a 10-day Asian tour, helped fast-track them, US officials said.
But Obama didn’t forget his hosts and unveiled a major reform of US export controls to benefit trade with India. He announced the removal of three of India’s remaining four defence and space entities — Indian Space Research Organisation, Defence Research & Development Organisation and Bharat Dynamics — from a restricted list and allowed for liberal sale of dual-use technology. He also supported India’s phase-in to full membership in the world’s major nonproliferation regimes.
While he didn’t utter the word outsourcing, Obama asked Americans to reconsider what he described as outdated stereotypes of India as a land of call centers and outsourced US jobs, and instead see the world’s largest democracy as a huge market that can help the American economy rebuild.
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“There are many Americans whose only experience with trade and globalisation has been a shuttered factory or a job that was shipped overseas,” Obama said. “Likewise, in India, I know that many still see the arrival of American companies and products as a threat to small shopkeepers and to India’s ancient and proud culture. But these old stereotypes, these old concerns ignore today’s reality. It is a dynamic two-way relationship that is creating jobs, growth and higher living standards in both our countries.”
Obama, however, asked India to lower trade barriers and said though India over the past few decades has been an easier place to do business, “more needs to be done on infrastructure, and regulations still pose serious challenges.”
Calling the pace of India’s growth and rise of its middle class over the past two decades “one of the most stunning achievements in human history”, Obama said expanded commercial ties will “strongly benefit” both the countries. “It’s sad that the US’ entire trade with India is less than its trade with the Netherlands.
Obama showed that he hasn’t lost his trademark sense of humour despite the mauling his party received in the mid-term polls. “Both US and India have democracy, which is the best system even if sometimes the election doesn’t turn out as you’d like.” The audience gave a standing ovation.
India-US trade stood at $36.5 billion in 2009-10, and the two countries aim to double it in the next five years. Describing India, which receives about 8 per cent of its total foreign direct investment from the US, as a defining and indispensable partner of the 21st century, Obama asked India to reduce trade barriers and committed to reciprocate.
Denouncing terrorism
Obama’s business remarks wrapped up a packed half-day, after the first family of the US arrived at noon under heavy security which almost shut down India’s commercial capital. Obama, who flew down from the airport to downtown Colaba in Marine One chopper before driving in a Cadillac to the Taj Mahal Hotel, placed white roses at a courtyard memorial to victims of the November 26, 2008, attacks by terrorists that killed more than 160 people.
From there, Obama was off to Mani Bhavan, a museum and home to Mahatma Gandhi, where he remarked that the father of the nation was a world hero. His next stop was a roundtable with Indian and US CEOs before addressing the business summit.
“We visit here to send a very clear message,” Obama said after meeting victims’ families at the hotel, that India and the US are united in their fight against terrorism. Calling the terrorists “murderers”, he said they sneaked into Mumbai to kill “innocent civilians”.
“Those who attacked Mumbai wanted to demoralise this city and this country but they failed,” he said. “The very next day, Mumbaikars came back to work... Within weeks, this hotel was welcoming guests from around the world.”
The speech, however, drew sharp criticism from the Bharatiya Janata Party which termed it disappointing for his failure to mention Pakistan even once.
The presidential suite where the President and his wife are staying is on the sixth floor of the Palace wing of the Taj Mahal Hotel, which offers a panoramic view of the Arabian Sea and the Gateway of India.
It’s, however, doubtful, how much of it the first family would be able to see as they have a packed schedule till noon before flying off for the final leg of the tour in New Delhi.