INDO-US TIES: India, U.S. to fast track bilateral investment treaty dialogue!

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PTI / The Hindu / WASHINGTON, June 23, 2011.

File photo of Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma (right) with U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk - PTI.

India and the United States on Wednesday agreed to fast-track technical negotiations for early conclusion of a Bilateral Investment Agreement during a meeting between Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma and U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk.

“We agreed to re-invigorate the Trade Policy Forum (TPF) and make it more robust and effective in resolving bilateral commercial issues, while maintaining the political leadership of the process,” Mr. Sharma told Indian reporters after the meeting.

“The two sides also agreed to fast-track the technical negotiations for an early conclusion of the India-U.S. Bilateral Investment Agreement,” Mr. Sharma said, adding there would be two rounds of negotiations before the next meeting of the ministerial level TPF, expected to be held in October, 2011, in India.

Reaffirming that the TPF is the premier dialogue for addressing trade and investment issues between the two countries, a separate USTR statement said the two agreed that the TPF should be strengthened to better facilitate resolution of outstanding issues of concern and looked forward to a constructive meeting of the TPF later this year.

“The booming bilateral trade and investment flows between the United States and India support tens of thousands of critical jobs in both countries and we know that will only grow significantly in the coming years,” Mr. Kirk said.

Full Story at,

http://www.thehindu.com/business/Economy/article2128250.ece

WIKILEAKS, Pak Cables, DAWN: When US tried to force its terms for investment treaty!

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By Idrees Bakhtiar | From the Newspaper / Dawn.com, Pakistan.

Then US Ambassador Anne W. Patterson / File Photo / The Dawn.

KARACHI: When former Attorney General Makhdoom Ali Khan resigned from Gen Musharraf’s cabinet in the wake of the Supreme Court’s reinstatement in July 2007 of ‘suspended’ Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, the Americans were not exactly regretful at Mr Khan’s departure, according to a ‘confidential’ US diplomatic cable accessed by Dawn through WikiLeaks. However, their reasons for being happy to see the back of him had nothing to do with the disastrous handling of the CJ issue by the Musharraf government’s legal team.

In a cable dated August 6, 2007, then US Ambassador Anne W. Patterson wrote that despite her reservations over Mr Khan’s “controversial” replacement, “We will not be sorry to see Khan go, as he blocked further negotiations on the bilateral investment treaty over concerns about investor-state arbitration and other issues.”

Ms Patterson had been expressing her views on the resignation of Mr Khan and the appointment of Malik Qayyum as the new attorney general by Gen Musharraf. “Both the incoming and outgoing attorneys general can be accused of bungling the case of what admittedly was an ill-conceived idea to suspend the Chief Justice,” wrote the former envoy. But she was very specific about the reasons for American displeasure with Makhdoom Ali Khan.

Very interesting, a must read, for all those who are interested in what was going in the name of US-Pak Relations.

Full Report at,

http://www.dawn.com/2011/05/27/when-us-tried-to-force-its-terms-for-investment-treaty-2.html