Narendra Modi has the opportunity to reinvigorate India’s economy and bring new energy to US-India relations: Rep. Ed Royce

Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee lauds Modi.

By Sujeet Rajan

WASHINGTON, DC: U.S. Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and former chair of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans, has lauded the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi for his dynamism in increasing the country’s exports during his tenure as the chief minister of Gujarat and hoped that he would “bring new energy to U.S.-India relations”.

Royce will make these comments in his opening statements at a subcommittee hearing by the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific, entitled “U.S.-India Relations Under the Modi Government” to examine U.S.-India relations under the government of Modi. A copy of Royce’s comments was made available in advance to The American Bazaar.

Last month, Royce sent a letter to House Speaker John Boehnerrequesting that Modi be granted the opportunity to address a Joint Meeting of Congress.

Here is Royce’s opening statement as prepared for delivery at the hearing:

In every aspect – whether it be in political, economic or security relations – the United States has no more important partner in South Asia.  It is not an overstatement to say that the U.S.-India relationship will help define the future of the region.  And that is why I was pleased to join my friend and colleague, George Holding, in inviting Prime Minister Modi to address a Joint Meeting of Congress when he travels to Washington in September.

 

I am optimistic that the mandate given to Prime Minister Modi will help India thrive economically, lifting countless people out of poverty.  Having travelled to Gujarat following the devastating 2001 earthquake – a disaster that claimed the lives of 20,000 and injured hundreds of thousands more – I had the opportunity to meet Mr. Modi, and witness firsthand the astonishing reconstruction effort he led.  It would have been impossible to imagine then that the district of Kutch, decimated to near rubble, would become an economic boomtown, attracting hundreds of businesses and creating thousands of jobs. 

Since that time, Gujarat has flourished.  Experiencing an average growth rate of 10.3 percent in the decade since Modi took power, Gujarat outpaced India’s overall growth by two percent.  Under Mr. Modi’s leadership, Gujarat, home to a mere five percent of the country’s population, now accounts for nearly 25 percent of all Indian exports.  Not surprisingly, poverty rates have fallen dramatically under his leadership.

Like with all partnerships, there are challenges that we can address.  In its annual report on global trade, the U.S. Trade Representative said, “U.S. exporters continue to encounter tariff and non-tariff barriers that impeded imports of U.S. products into India,” and that restrictions on foreign investment and complex customs procedures continue to deter trade.  The new government must tackle these problems.   

India has the opportunity to implement important reforms such as the privatization of state-run banks and the relinquishing of the government’s control of coal production.  Prime Minister Modi’s historic victory has granted him a mandate unseen in decades.  If Modi is successful, all Indians will have an opportunity to unleash their abundant economic talent and potential, as Gujaratis have.  He now has the opportunity to reinvigorate India’s economy and bring new energy to U.S.-India relations.