India-US should eye trillion-dollar trade: Indian Minister Piyush Goyal

Expressing India's willingness to expand economic relations with the US, Indian Minister of Commerce Piyush Goyal said New Delhi is ready to extend its trade ties with Washington in the spirit of reciprocity and equality.

Addressing the 4th Annual Leadership Summit for US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) virtually, Goyal said, "India and the US can be two countries which should be looking at a balanced mutual trade of a trillion dollars in the next ten years." "And unless you keep some very ambitious targets, we will never get that."

Underlining the importance of India-US ties, Goyal said that both countries have come a long way and are natural and indispensable partners and both need to work together.

"We had actually concluded discussion maybe three or four times but would always get stuck somewhere in the red tape, and for a change, India was not responsible," he added.

Stressing his personal interest in the deal, he emphasised that "we were always forthcoming. I personally invested a lot of my time in trying to make it happen, including meeting with your medical devices companies on four or five occasions both in India, in Washington and New York."

He hoped now this would happen with the closeness that Quad has created among the four countries.

During the address at the USISPF, Goyal urged the American side to impress this fact upon their administration.

"I am happy to look at a trillion-dollar target in the next ten years. I am happy to engage with the US and look for expanding our economic partnership, so then all four members of the Quad would have strong economic ties with each other," Goyal added.

(ANI)