US-India Strategic Partnership Forum Sets the Stage for Strategic and Business Dialogue Ahead of President Donald J. Trump’s Visit to India

New Delhi, Delhi, India | 24^th February 2020: During President Trump’s maiden India visit, the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) will launch the US-India Tax Forum, an initiative designed for industry and government to engage on global and local tax policy issues. The USISPF Tax Forum will bring over 50 tax experts from Fortune 500 companies together with senior officials from Ministry of Finance, Central Board Direct Tax (CBDT), GST Council and Customs Board Indirect Tax & Customs (CBIC). The Forum will meet on a regular basis with the government to share feedback on transparency and efficiency in tax policy. It will also work with the government to ensure tax policy harmonization between multilateral and unilateral tax treaties.
 
On Feb 25th, USISPF together with Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and Observer Research Foundation (ORF) will also convene the U.S.-India Forum — a gathering of eminent current and former government of India and U.S. government officials, and private sector leaders to discuss the next steps in growing U.S.-India trade and investment relations, defense ties, Indo-Pacific strategy, and the enormous technology transitions and trends in the coming decade. 
 
In advance of the President’s visit, the USISPF led a Civil Nuclear Trade Mission from Feb 10-14 to New Delhi and Mumbai. The Trade Mission brought together senior representatives from Westinghouse Electric Company, TerraPower, Bechtel, Fluor, URENCO, among others, who met with senior officers and leadership of DAE, NPCIL, AERB, MEA, amongst others.
 
USISPF led a delegation of global privacy experts from Apple, Facebook, Salesforce, AWS, among others from February 18 – 20^thto New Delhi to discuss the Personal Data Protection Bill with Members of Parliament and government stakeholders. 
 
On Defense, USISPF led a delegation of top US company representatives to Lucknow for Def Expo 2020 earlier in the month. The delegation had high level dialogue with Raskha Rajya Mantri, Defense Secretary, DG Acquisition, among others. The delegation also met with Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath on increasing investment in the UP defense corridor.
 
USISPF President and Chief Executive Office Dr. Mukesh Aghi said, “President Trump’s visit will undoubtedly strengthen the commercial and strategic between the world’s oldest and largest democracy. Bilateral trade has gone up 12% to $160 billion 2019, indicating the strength of the commercial partnership. On the strategic side, US now conducts maximum number of military exercises with India, including Operation Malabar, which has increased in its scope and complexity over the years.”
 
“USISPF looks forward to celebrating the growing multifaceted partnership between the United States and India,” said Aghi.