Indian official demands for U.S. lift on American technology transfer to India

A senior Indian official on Wednesday reiterated call for the United States to lift restrictions on American technology transfer to India a day after U.S. President Barack Obama's meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the White House.

Addressing a forum held by the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, an economic advisor to Singh, said that Washington ought to take action to remove technology transfer controls to broaden cooperation between the U.S. and India.

"We are very hopeful that ... there will be a significant easing of technology controls," Ahluwalia said of a joint statement issued after Obama-Singh meeting on Tuesday.

Obama and Singh agreed that "strengthening high technology trade between their countries is in the spirit of their strategic dialogue and partnership," the joint statement said.

Speaking to reporters after talks with Obama, Singh called for more concrete cooperation with the Obama administration.

"Our strategic partnership should facilitate transfer of high technologies to India. The lifting of U.S. export controls on high-technology exports to India will open vast opportunities for joint research and development efforts," Singh noted.

In terms of environment protection, "I underline India's desire to benefit from clean and energy-efficient technologies from the United States," the Indian prime minister added.

Singh's government and the Bush White House, Obama's predecessor, signed a civilian nuclear agreement when the then U.S. president George W. Bush visited New Delhi in March 2006.

Under the deal, India agreed to separate its civilian and military nuclear programs, allowing international scrutiny for the bulk of its power stations to ensure nonproliferation.

Source: Xinhua