India-US Forum of Parliamentarians delegation heads to United States

New Delhi [India], Sep 12 (ANI): FICCI's Forum of Parliamentarians is organising the annual delegation of India US Forum of Parliamentarians to the United States. The delegation shall visit Washington D.C from 11th to 17th September 2016 for a series of high level political call-ons, round tables with think tanks, interaction with Indian and American industry leaders, diaspora, students and media interactions. The multiparty group of MPs led by Baijayant 'Jay' Panda, Member of Parliament and Chair, FICCI's India-US Forum of Parliamentarians and Harshavardhan Neotia, President, FICCI shall spend two days at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. India and the United States have declared themselves as 'enduring global partners of the 21st century'. From climate change, clean energy to standing together against terrorism, the two countries share several common interests and have a growing synergy in international affairs. US Ambassador to India, Richard R Verma, who hosted the delegation for a pre-departure briefing, emphasized that the United States supports the rise of India as a leading global player. He also shared that the India US relationship has been extremely upbeat in recent times and has been progressing on political, economic, strategic and specific sectors such as agriculture and defence. He welcomed FICCI's initiative of providing a track two dimension to promote the understanding between Indian MPs and policy makers, opinion shapers and thought leaders in the US. Highlighting the importance of this visit, Baijayant 'Jay' Panda, Member of Parliament and Chair of the Forum stated, 'As every year the mission of the delegation would be to supplement the buoyant economic and strategic relations between the two countries. He pointed out that it was heartening to note that the India US relationship has had bipartisan support in the US'. He mentioned that the delegation would focus on the priority sectors of interest of both India and the US such as defense, infrastructure, bilateral trade, copyright and IPR. "The visit is taking place at an opportune time. The world is eagerly watching the unfolding of the Presidential elections in the US. It is essential to connect to US industry to continue the dialogue. Indeed there are issues of concern on either side, but, the trajectory of this relationship would continue to move upwards," said President FICCI, Harshavardhan Neotia. (ANI)