India, US to talk ways to remove differences on trade.

NEW DELHI: After sparring for months, India and the US are finally getting down to negotiate ways to sort out their differences on trade and economy.

A team of senior officials from the US Trade Representative's office will reach the Capital later this week to discuss issues ranging from India's patent regime to Washington's reluctance to have a liberal visa regime for local techies.

The meeting — which comes days after talks at the World Trade Organization over easier customs rules collapsed — is a precursor to much awaited India-US Trade Policy Forum, the ministerial level consultations, scheduled for later this year.

Sources familiar with the talks told TOI that the intellectual property rights (IPR) regime is expected to be the top agenda item, given the US government's concerns over India's ability to deny patents on grounds of lack of innovativeness and to use a provision to waive patent rights for medicines on the grounds of affordability. Besides, Washington is worried over provisions in the New Manufacturing Policy and has dropped hints of initiating penal action, a move that the government has has described as unilateral and threatened to drag US to the WTO.

There are several issues related to the IT sector as well, the main being the new immigration rules in the US, which have made it difficult for Indian professionals to enter even for assignments. Similarly, there is a vexed issue of Totalization Agreement that India wants to take up with the US authorities as the current regulations mandate that Indian professionals make social security contributions even during short-duration work-related stay but are denied a refund when they leave the country on the argument that India does not have an equivalent scheme.

Similarly, India wants market access for several of its products, ranging from basmati rice to spices, pomegranates and table grapes. In return, the US wants India to lift curbs on poultry exported by it.

Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com