INDIA-US
HIGH TECHNOLOGY COOPERATION GROUP (HTCG)
The India US High Technology
Cooperation Group (HTCG) has its genesis in PM-President Bush Joint Statement of 9 November 2001. The
HTCG was announced during then Under Secretary of US Bureau of Industry and
Security (BIS), Kenneth I. Juster’s visit to Delhi through a Joint Statement on 13 November 2002. In the
statement the two sides agreed to take concrete steps to pursue the commitment
between Prime Minister and President Bush during their 2001 meeting to
stimulate bilateral high technology commerce. The initiative was launched to
enhance strategic trade with the U.S., including through improved access to
controlled ‘dual use’ items from the U.S. The ‘Statement of Principles (SOP)
for India-U.S. High Technology Commerce’ was signed in February 2003 in
Washington DC, which established the mandate for the HTCG and the measures that
the two sides would take to stimulate high technology commerce (Press Release).
The SOP created two broad
agendas for HTCG: (i) High technology commerce and (ii) Strategic trade.
HIGH
TECHNOLOGY COMMERCE
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The focus is on:
a)
promotional
events
b)
generating awareness and
understanding of market opportunities and regulatory environment
c)
facilitating business-business
interaction, and
d)
identifying regulatory issues
that need to be addressed.
§
Under this four industries
were identified for special focus:
a)
information technology,
b)
nano-technology,
c)
biotechnology, and
d)
defence technology.
STRATEGIC TRADE
We
are interested in using the discussions to seek changes in U.S. regulations for
India and understanding latest trends in US export licences for India. The
United States wants to understand what we are doing to strengthen our export
controls and in pursuing bilateral cooperation on export control capacity
building.
India-U.S. dialogue on strategic trade (access to
dual use items) covers four broad sets of issues:
a)
Possible changes in U.S. licensing regulations and
policies for India,
b)
Industry outreach activities to educate Indian and
U.S. private sectors on U.S. regulations,
c)
Measures to enhance confidence on end users for
dual use goods and technologies, and
d)
Technology security, including India’s export control
regime and India-U.S. cooperation on export control.
§
There is an official dialogue
and a private sector forum. Official
dialogue follows the private sector forum, so that, besides discussing
strategic trade, it also deliberates on the discussions at the private sector
forum.
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FS and Under Secretary of
Commerce lead the talks.
§
CII, FICCI and NASSCOM provide
support for the private sector forum. On the U.S. side it is US-India Business
Council (USIBC).
§
Government delegations come from
MEA (AMS and D&ISA Divisions), Commerce, D/IT, D/S&T, D/BT, D/Space and
MOD (DRDO and Production side). Depending on the need, M/Finance or D/Commerce
and Industry are invited.
India-U.S. High Technology Cooperation Group has met
thrice:
i)
First meeting on 01-02 July 2003, Washington DC,
ii)
Second meeting on 19-20 November 2003, Bangalore and
Delhi, and
iii)
Third meeting on 18-19 November 2004, Washington DC.
“Financing
Innovation Forum” was the theme of the first industry meeting held on July1,
2003, which focused on financing investments in high technology sectors;
overall outlook of high technology sectors in India, with the special focus on
four sectors-information technology, defence technology, life sciences and
nano-technology; and private sector perceptions on doing business in India
these sectors. There was also discussion on the role of venture capital.
The
Official HTCG dialogue had a plenary session and two breakout sessions:
(i)
Facilitating and Promoting High- Technology Trade- Topics discussed included
Customs Procedure, Barriers relating to IT products, E-Commerce, Data privacy.
(ii)
Building confidence for Additional Strategic Trade.
SECOND
HTCG MEETING
Forum on Advancing Synergy in Technologies was the
theme of the second industry meeting held on 19 November 2003 which focused on
India’s high technology capabilities, intellectual property rights besides
sessions on information technology (coordinated by NASSCOM), biotechnology
(FICCI) and defence technology (CII).
The format of official dialogue remained same as
the first meeting. The topics discussed in the session on ‘Facilitating and
promoting high technology trade’ included customs procedure, tariff procedure
for IT products, data privacy law, IPR, standards and cooperation possibilities
in defence technology, IT technology/ nano-technology, life
sciences/biotechnology and tele-health.
Third meeting of the HTCG was
held in Washington on 18-19 November 2004, in which Data Privacy and Defence
Technology were the main theme for the industry-government day while Strategic
Trade and Trade Facilitation were the areas of focus on the
government-government session.
NSSP and HTCG have contributed to
a more predictable and liberal licensing policy for India in the US. It has led
to a significant increase in bilateral high-technology trade, including
licensed trade in dual-use items. The U.S. dual use
licenses for India have doubled from 423 in FY 2002 to 912 in FY 2004. In value
terms too, this trade has gone up more than three times from $26.78 million in
FY 2002 to $90.06 million in 2004. The license approval rate has also
increased from 84 percent to 90 percent in the last 2 years.
Remarks of MEA
Spokesperson on the third meeting of India-US HTCG
CII Presentation on India US HTCG - Gen S. S. Mehta, Nov 2004
FICCI Presentation on Policy framework
Governing High-Tech trade between India and the US – Dr. Amit Mitra , Nov 2004
Privacy and Cyber Security legal and policy
issues - Joe Alhadeff, Nov 2004
Opportunities Confronting the U. S. –
Indian Defense Industries - Alan Tarkenton, Nov 2004
HTCG Dialogue on Defense Technology -
Serge Buchakjian, Honeywell, Nov 2004
India US Dual-Use Export Policies and
Procedures - Goldman, Nov 2004