The talks will take place over 2 days in Washington, DC.
By Raif Karerat
The U.S. Department of Commerce announced Friday that the inaugural U.S.-India Strategic and Commercial Dialogue will be held in Washington D.C. from September 21 through September 22.
During the event, Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker will be joined by their respective Indian co-chairs, Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj and Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman, along with members of U.S. and Indian delegations.
Since 2010, the event’s previous iteration — called the U.S.-India Strategic Dialogue as there was less of an emphasis on trade — has been the primary forum to advance shared objectives in regional security, economic cooperation, defense, trade and climate challenges.
With its newfangled purview over commerce, the United States and India will focus additional attention on shared priorities of generating economic growth, creating jobs, improving the investment climate, and strengthening the middle class in both countries, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Commerce.
To increase the role of the private sector, the Department of Commerce will also host its U.S.-India CEO Forum on September 21, in close proximity to the Strategic and Commercial Dialogue for the first time ever.
The CEO Forum — chaired by Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker and Caroline Atkinson, Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy U.S. National Security Adviser for International Economics — is the primary mechanism for engaging the U.S. and Indian private sectors and leveraging business leaders’ recommendations to shape policymaking discussions.
CEOs selected for this year’s forum include:
- Ajay Banga, President and CEO – MasterCard, Inc.
- Mary Barra, CEO – General Motors
- Sanjay Bhatnagar, President and CEO – WaterHealth International
- Michael Burke, Chairman and CEO – AECOM Technology Corporation
- Ahmad Chatila, CEO – SunEdison, Inc.
- David Cote, Chairman and CEO – Honeywell International, Inc.; Forum Co-Chair
- Andres Gluski, President and CEO – AES Corporation
- Paul Jacobs, Executive Chairman – Qualcomm, Inc.
- Charles R. Kaye, Co-CEO – Warburg Pincus, LLC
- Ellen Kullman, Chair and CEO – DuPont
- Andrew Liveris, Chairman and CEO – The Dow Chemical Company
- Michael Mahoney, President and CEO – Boston Scientific Corporation
- Shantanu Narayen, President and CEO – Adobe Systems, Inc.
- Indra Nooyi, Chairman and CEO – PepsiCo, Inc.
- Dinesh Paliwal, Chairman, President and CEO – Harman International Industries
- Douglas Peterson, President and CEO – McGraw Hill Financial
- James Taiclet, Chairman, President and CEO – American Tower Corporation.