India, US discuss ways to combat terror funding, boost trade

Seeking to check terror funding, India and the United States today discussed ways to combat money laundering and illicit fund flows as the two nations look to boost economic engagement.
Visiting US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley discussed a range of issues, including taxation and long term investment strategies, at the 5th Indo-US Economic and Financial Partnership meeting here today.
"We discussed the state of the economy. There were several sectors about which we had detailed discussions -- the financial sector, the macro-economic situation in both the countries, taxation, banking, problems facing entire world with regard to funding of terrorism," Jaitley told reporters at a joint press conference after the meeting.

Cooperation at global level is needed to check money laundering, Jaitley said, adding that the issue of India becoming a part of Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), which will lead to automatic exchange of information between the two countries, were discussed at the meeting.
Appreciating the reforms undertaken by the Narendra Modi government, Lew said: "We can significantly advance our interest by promoting economic ties and increasing trade between the two growing markets."
India and the US are increasing cooperation in a number of important areas such as strengthening of the financial sector, resolving tax disputes, combating illicit finance and facilitating long term investments through deepening of capital markets in India, he added.

"And over the last few years, we have seen significant progress. Trade between our countries has reached nearly USD 100 billion," Lew said.