India has conveyed its serious concerns regarding Kansas shooting, MEA spokesperson said
India on Thursday said that the presence of the highly skilled workers from India is good for the US economy.
“All of us have seen the statements by senior US officials that illegal immigration and not H-1B is their priority. We have also seen the President of the United States himself has made a reference to merit based approach on the subject. It has been our view that the presence of skilled Indian professionals is a positive for US economy as I just said and particularly when the US seeks to build a stronger economy,” Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Gopal Baglay said in his weekly media briefing.
“There are advantage in terms of backward linkages also as we all know. When we combine all this with our own government’s efforts for economic reforms and a high sustained economic growth, there is obviously a very important opportunity here for both countries to consolidate their economic partnership,” he said.
Baglay said that India’s Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar and Commerce Secratary Rita Teotia discussed these issues with their US counterparts and the last week’s discussions also underlined Indian technical professionals’ contribution to the United States’ economy.
He cited a statement by NASSCOM that the temporary halt of H-1B petition’s premium processing service would not affect the visa aspirants from India.
Regarding Kansas shooting, Baglay said that India has conveyed its serious concerns; and that the US government has assured speedy justice to the aggrieved families.
On the issue of a US-based NGO, Compassion International, that is now closing its India office, Baglay said, “NGO whether it is an Indian NGO or a foreign NGO has to operate in India or for that matter anywhere in the world within the laws of the country where it is operating. We have been very transparent in this regard. The whole matter is the matter of law enforcement. It is a matter pertaining to following the laid down laws of the country and we would expect any NGO to operate within the realms of those laws.”