ANI | 9 October 2009

US envoy hopeful of Indo-US bilateral investment treaty being endorsed

New Delhi, Oct 9: US Ambassador to India Timothy Roemer has said that he is hopeful that a bilateral investment treaty between US and India will be signed by end of the year.

Addressing a seminar ’Strengthening US-India Economic and Commerce Ties’ hosted by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here on Thursday, Roemer said, "The signing of bilateral investment treaty would encourage the entry of billions of dollars in foreign direct investment in infrastructure sector.

the envoy said there have been initial negotiations on the proposed treaty.

He said: "It will encourage more US companies to come to India in infrastructure, power, energy, electrical grid... That kind of agreement will benefit both countries and we are hopeful that after the successful negotiation that took place back in late spring summer"

He hoped that the next round od discussion that would be held later in the year would result in progress and hopefully the signing of a bilateral investment treaty.

According to a report based on survey by the Virtus Global Partners, USA and ICRA Management Consulting Services Ltd (ImaCS), the US bound transactions from India have dropped significantly this year as compared to the previous year.

There were only ten US bound transactions in the first three quarters of 2009.