India and the United States on Thursday agreed to commit to build their upon the partnership between the two nations while adhering to the adage 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas' , which translates to 'Shared Effort, Progress for All'.
In a joint statement released by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew after the fifth India-U.S. Economic and Financial Partnership Dialogue, the two leaders stated that New Delhi and Washington DC have committed towards building on the dynamism of a renewed India-U.S. partnership for the 21st century.
"We appreciate the significant efforts undertaken by both sides in recent months to re-energize the bilateral and strategic partnership that has elevated the Partnership to an unprecedented level and scale," the statement read.
"Our shared interest in promoting policies that foster higher and more sustainable economic growth, job creation, and financial stability has enabled us to coordinate on a wide range of issues including investment promotion, financial sector regulation, infrastructure development, tax policy, and combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism. We agreed that we would continue to grow our diversified Partnership through enhanced consultations and economic cooperation," it added.
The two leaders also spoke of economic and financial progress in their respective nations.
"We discussed recent economic and financial developments in our two economies, and in the global economy at large. We noted the challenges that both of our economies face and agreed that sound macroeconomic policies, structural reforms, and strong prudential frameworks will help to boost economic growth and increase resilience to financial market volatility," the joint statement said.
"We reviewed the growing trade and investment flows between our two countries. We are confident that continued collaboration to increase bilateral trade and investment flows would enhance opportunities for Indian and U.S. citizens through greater economic growth and job creation, providing mutual benefits to both of our countries," it added.
Also Read
Jaitley and Lew also stressed upon the need for the strengthening of international financial institutions and an early conclusion of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act.
"We emphasized the importance of strengthening international financial institutions, including the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Secretary Lew affirmed President Obama's commitment to the shareholder review at the World Bank and to working to leverage the resources of the multilateral development banks to enhance our impact on economic development, including through the financing of infrastructure development," the statement read.
"We noted the need for an early conclusion of reciprocal arrangement on the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act and look forward to working for an early adoption of the new global standards on automatic exchange of information on a fully reciprocal basis for getting information about unaccounted money hoarded in offshore jurisdictions and tax havens. We are committed to share our experiences in tackling offshore tax evasion and avoidance. We affirmed our shared commitment to fostering an enabling tax environment and expressed our satisfaction at the progress made in resolving tax disputes," it added.
The two leaders stated that liquid capital markets in India will facilitate greater foreign investment.
"We agreed that deeper and more liquid capital markets in India will facilitate greater foreign investment across sectors, including infrastructure. Streamlining procedures for directly accessing India's onshore financial markets and allowing foreign investors to invest in a way that more directly benefits the India end-user, instead of the use of parallel off-shore markets with a chain of intermediaries, would lead to greater efficiencies and more funds available to finance investment. We also committed to collaborate on technical assistance in the area of public debt management," the statement read.
"Jaitley expressed his appreciation for the efforts of the U.S. Treasury in cooperating with the Ministry of Finance on the Task Force on Resolution Corporation set up in pursuance of the recommendations of the Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission," it added.
Jaitley and Lew also agreed to financially target terrorist organisations and money laundering by other criminal elements.
"We welcomed the agreements made for information sharing between the two countries' regulatory agencies. We welcomed the prospect of an increasingly robust dialogue and meaningful cooperation on anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism with the signing of the India-U.S. Memorandum of Understanding in January 2015. We reiterated our commitment to target the financial networks and fundraising activities of terrorist organizations such as Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT), Jammat-ud-Dawa (JuD). Jaishe-e-Mohammad, the Haqqani Network, D Company, Al Qaida, ISIL, and individual terrorists associated with these organizations. We all agreed to enhance cooperation between our agencies in fighting illicit finance in all forms," the statement read.
Apart from Jaitley and Lew, senior officers from both nations, including Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan and U.S. Federal Reserve Board vice chairman Stanley Fischer were also present for the Economic and Financial Partnership Dialogue.
The sixth dialogue is scheduled to be held in Washington DC in 2016.