American expert favours Indo-US pact in IT sector

Bengaluru, Nov 7 (IANS) A bilateral agreement in the IT sector between India and the US would benefit many sectors, including defence and aerospace, said a top official of an American advisory services firm on Tuesday.

"A bilateral US-India IT sector agreement will benefit many sectors such as defence, aerospace, banking, science and technology, infrastructure and flow of people," said The Stern Group Chairwoman Paula Stern, at the two-day conference on 'Unlocking US-India Trade Potential', organised by the US Consulate General with the Atlantic Council.

The Washington-based Stern Group provides advisory services in business and government strategy. Its services include broker connections with governments, resolving commercial disputes and developing political and economic policy campaigns.

Stern, a former chairperson of the US International Trade Commission, also asked India to take the lead in the sectoral focus to strengthen a bilateral US-India trade presence in the Indo-Pacific region, as this would allow India to serve its grander strategic and economic objectives.

"In doing so, India will be handing the US a step up that will help it regain American geostrategic leadership," she said

With North America accounting for about 60 per cent of the $150-billion Indian software services and IT product exports annually and iun view of the inter-linkages between the two nations in IT, e-commerce and cyber security, Stern said the sectoral agreement would facilitate a grander convergence and reinforce security capacity and inter-operability.

"The proposal has merit geo-strategically, economically, and politically. Addressing tariffs and regulatory issues will benefit trade for both nations," she said.

US Consul General Robert Burgess, Infosys co-founder and Chairman Nandan Nilekani and Atlantic Council Director Bharath Gopalaswamy attended the conference.

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