As India ramps up its economic engines, it also looks towards the US economy for support. US big business too increasingly finds India an increasingly strategic destination. Information technology and business process outsourcing synergies promise a new era of economic expansion for the two economies. Question is can business interests shape the Indo-US relationship at the strategic level? Can business determine what would be the shape of government to government relations in the years to come? Some believe that the answer may be found in the areas of military and nuclear technologies which require a profound congruence of views at the highest decision making levels. Others feel that a business relationship in itself cannot influence national policies.

Ambassador Mansingh described the dramatic change that occurred in bilateral relations between his first assignment as deputy chief of mission in Washington in the 1990's and his second assignment as Ambassador between 2001 and 2004. He also identified five important factors that made an improvement in Indo-U.S. Relations possible. He expressed satisfaction that the hardest part of the civil nuclear deal (i.e. U.S. Congressional approval) had already been achieved and remained confident that the remaining obstacles to the deal's implementation would be settled through negotiations by the middle of the year. He then discussed where he thought the partnership was heading now that the nuclear deal was largely concluded. In particular he predicted a return of focus to the bread-and-butter issues of the relationship especially agriculture, energy, economic cooperation, and exchanges in science and technology.

Mr. Pyatt, who was also confident about the completion of the nuclear deal, identified five key drivers of the strategic partnership in the future. The first was the business relationship, which although already strong, he expected to grow rapidly in the next few years. The second issue was agriculture. Pyatt argued that greater collaboration between western companies and agricultural universities and their Indian counterparts could dramatically increase India's production. A third issue was education where he hoped that pending Indian legislation would modernize the Indian education infrastructure and allow for greater cooperation with foreign institutions. A fourth area for further development was defense. Pyatt suggested the need to increase inter operability so as to be able to better respond to humanitarian disasters such as the tsunami. He also highlighted several areas for further cooperation regarding defense sales between the two countries. Finally Pyatt highlighted the possibilities for greater cooperation in the realm of technology. Particularly with regard to the two countries space programs.

Mr. Narayanan's very comprehensive remarks covered many facets of the Indo-U.S. Relationship. He hoped for and expected that the relationship would grow stronger as the century progressed because of the general convergence of interests of the two countries. He highlighted a number of areas that are ripe for further cooperation and integration, particularly the possibility of greatly increasing trade. He also touched on the two countries convergent interests with respect to Doha negotiations, energy exploration, R&D in high tech sectors, terrorism, and maritime security. Mr. Narayanan was quite optimistic about the opportunities for enhancing the partnership by cultivating the existing goodwill between the two governments and their people.

This seminar series has largely been inspired by Ram Narayanan (Read Profile), who has been visiting New delhi every winter for some years now to promote India-US understanding. He hosts and coordinates a 100 percent not-for-profit website, which is an all-in-one resource for Indian-Americans and friends of India. They can turn to his website for information on current issues relevant to US-India relations (http://www.usindiafriendship.net/). He has recently been described as "one of the most influential grassroots activists in America, exerting a considerable impact on Indo-US opinionators inside the Beltway. His activism has mirrored, and helped define, the increased political sophistication of Indian-Americans in recent years. As a registered independent, he doesn’t openly support any party in the US or India, but his issues are pretty defined: he wants a more muscular economic and military partnership between the 2 countries, and he wants American lawmakers to crack down on cross-border terrorism driven by Pakistan."

• Chairman: Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Shantonu Choudhry
• Ram Narayanan, Founder of the leading web portal on Indo-US relations
• Lalit ManSingh, former Indian Ambassador to the US
• Geoffrey R.Pyatt, Deputy Chief of Mission, US Embassy, New Delhi
• Indranil Banerjie, Executive Director, SAPRA India Foundation

Target Audience:
Opinion makers in New Delhi
Foreign Diplomats
Serving & retired Bureaucrats
Senior Academia
Higher Education Students

Date: 16 January 2007 (Tuesday).
Time: 0930 Hours.
Venue: Conference Room II, India International Centre, New Delhi, India.
Attendance: By Invitation Only.