Speeches & Articles

Remarks by U.S. Consul General Henry V. Jardine for the
Bharat Chamber Of Commerce

Calcutta
September 15, 2005

Mr. Santosh Rungta, Members of the Bharat Chamber of Commerce, Members of the Diplomatic Community, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen.  I would like to thank the Bharat Chamber of Commerce for inviting me here today to make remarks on the subject of U.S. Trade in West Bengal.  I have been in Calcutta for just a few weeks and appreciate the opportunity to come out and talk on this issue as my maiden foray into the public domain. 

However, as my first opportunity to speak in public here in Calcutta, I would also like to expand the scope of my comments today and look at the issue of trade from a more comprehensive perspective.  To see it in the context of issues such as our very close and developing Global Partnership between the United States and India and how that framework of agreements and understandings is implemented here by the Consulate through a wide-range of social programs, public affairs and mutual exchange.

U.S. trade with West Bengal is not something new.  All the excitement generated in the press recently regarding new foreign investment and economic reforms gives the impression that trade in West Bengal is unique to the 21^st century.  However, the U.S. trade relationship with the Bengali traders dates back to over two hundred years, from the arrival of the first U.S. merchant ship, the Washington in 1787.   Reflecting the early importance that the U.S. placed on trade with India, this U.S.-flagged ship arrived only a few years after our War of Independence.  In fact, our Consulate in Calcutta is the U.S. Department of State’s second oldest Consulate and dates from November 19, 1792, when President George Washington appointed our first Consul, Benjamin Joy.  At that time, trade was very lucrative.  For every US dollar invested in trade with India, three dollars were earned.  I am not sure we are seeing those rates of return these days but it certainly sets a high bar for us.                                                                   

The U.S. commitment to doing business in West Bengal continues today and is again growing in importance as part of a comprehensive engagement with India.  Prime Minister Singh’s very successful visit to the United States in July clearly demonstrated the growing Global Partnership between our two countries.  It marked the completion of the Next Steps in Strategic Partnership (NSSP) begun in January 2004 and the beginning of a new even more dynamic phase.  In the area of economy and trade, the July agreement included the following commitments to:

-         Revitalize the U.S.-India Economic Dialogue and to launch a CEO Forum to harness the private sector’s energy and ideas in order to deepen the bilateral economic relationship.

-         Support and accelerate economic growth in both countries through greater trade, investment and technology collaboration.

-         Promote modernization of India’s infrastructure as a prerequisite for the continued growth of the Indian economy.  As India enhances its investment climate opportunities for investment will increase.

-         Launch a U.S. - India Knowledge Initiative on Agriculture focused on promoting teaching, research, services and commercial linkages.

Overall, India-U.S. trade is very important to both countries.  The United States is India’s largest single national trading partner and India is doing very well in that relationship, sustaining a surplus of approximately USD 9 billion in trade. 

India’s primary exports include:

• Cut and polished diamonds and Jewelry, which has seen an increase from USD 2.6 billion in 2001, to now approximately USD 4 billion.

• Textiles exports have gone from USD 2.827 billion in 2001 to approximately US$ 3.5 billion

• Engineering goods and machinery including electrical machinery went from $513 million in 2001, to in excess of USD 700 million.

• Vehicle parts and organic chemicals also saw dramatic increases in recent years.

The United State’s major exports to India consist of the following:

• Engineering goods and machinery, including electrical machinery, which contributed to a third of the total US exports to India.  Just in April, Boeing announced its very large USD 8 billion sale to Air India, which has helped to spike that sector of exports.

 

• Export of miscellaneous chemical products (HS chapter 38) from US to India has also increased in the recent years and is now approximately USD 500 million.

 

• And export of precious stones and metals from US is over US $400 million.[1] 

And the trade continues to grow.  In the first quarter of 2005, U.S. exports to India were up 50 percent and Indian exports to the U.S. were up 15%.

So what does this mean for West Bengal?   We at the Consulate have been seeing growing U.S. business presence in this State as well – while a very small example, I can say I was very fortunate in just the few weeks I have been here to inaugurate a new “Subway” sandwich shop, which had to close just briefly over the weekend because the number of customers was so great that they ran out of ingredients.

 

On a larger scale too, big-name U.S. businesses are here in West Bengal.  In the IT sector, IBM, INTEL, and Skytech Solutions of United Airlines are present.  Banking services are also here with American Express, Bank of America and Citibank as well as accounting firms like PriceWaterhouse Coopers and KPMG International.  In the food sector, FritoLay and Coca-Cola have made significant investments -- to offer a few more examples.

We at the U.S. Consulate General in Calcutta are also energized to promote this long-standing and profitable relationship.  Our role is to effectively implement the goals set in the agreements between the U.S. and Indian governments.  We do this through a sizeable operation of over 100 people, each person with an important role in developing our relations here in West Bengal.   As I noted in the beginning of my remarks, the Consulate views the issue of trade in the context of a range of broader social issues.

For us to enhance the environment for trade, we must seek to promote social development in a number of areas such as child development, trafficking of people, health and municipal finance.  We have assisted our New Delhi-based USAID office in their local implementation of the multi-state, USD 35 million, Financial Institution Reform and Expansion – Debt (FIRE-D) program.   This project supports the development of commercially viable urban infrastructure finance systems by developing demonstration projects, and capacity building of local urban institutions on the efficient delivery of urban infrastructure services.  These infrastructure services are naturally critical for economic development.

We have also worked to educate the broader public on the merits of improved trade relations between the U.S. and India and to promote greater receptivity by West Bengal to U.S. business.  The American Center, the public affairs office of the Consulate, has been out front in engaging with the community on the question of trade.  In 2005 alone, the American Center had over 30 different events related to just this issue.  Some of these events have included book discussions on privatization, lectures on Indo-U.S. economic relations, and Digital Video Conferences on Indo-U.S. business opportunities.  The Center has also sponsored many visitors to the U.S. and in August arranged an International Visitor program to study U.S. financial systems.

Our Foreign Commercial Service (FCS) office, with a growing staff, supports the other side of the equation in promoting trade by assisting the U.S. businesses seeking to work here.  The FCS helps by educating the U.S. business people on local procedures, arranging meetings and providing critical support during the difficult initial phase of assessing the viability of doing business in West Bengal.

Trade is fundamentally a person-to-person relation and to facilitate that we again work very hard.  Our Consular section processes over 24,000 visas a year, giving Indian business people an opportunity to travel to the U.S. and to make the critical contacts needed for successful trade.  India as a whole ranks second worldwide in the volume of U.S. visa applications, with almost 400,000 visas processed this year.  India leads in the number of temporary workers visas issued by four times the next closest country. 
Related to assisting business visitors, we also assist students traveling to the U.S. in the hope that they can serve as future business partners when they return to India.  Our United States Education Foundation in India (USEFI) office located at the American Center provides advice and counseling to prospective students.  To those of you in the audience with children looking to study in the U.S., I advise you to consider their excellent services.  USEFI in the past year gave assistance to over 25,000 prospective students. 
 
As an aside, I would also like to mention USEFI is presently seeking applications for its Partnership for Learning Undergraduate Studies (PLUS) program.  PLUS offers scholarships to pursue two years of undergraduate study in the United States for a Bachelor of Arts degree from select American colleges and universities.   The scholarship is primarily intended for highly motivated students who belong to disadvantaged socio-economic communities and under-served regions in India.  More information is available from the USEFI offices at the American Center.
 
So as you can all see, the U.S. Consulate in Calcutta is very serious in promoting trade between the United States and West Bengal.  Arriving only recently to Calcutta, I feel especially fortunate and privileged to come at a time of so much potential for doing business.  My hope is that now with the greater understanding of the need for market reforms and trade liberalization that a new an even more prosperous chapter will be added to the 200-year history of our close and profitable business relations.  And maybe U.S. businesses will again see a return of at least 200 percent profit for every dollar invested  -- just like in the 18^th century.   Thank you.