A new chapter in the business relations between India and the US will open

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on Monday when the two partners unveil their agreement on wide-scope economic give-and-take. One key component will be the fixing of a one-year timeframe to conclude a bilateral trade and investment treaty.

Besides trade and investment, regional security and a comprehensive energy deal are also part of the platform where the two countries will work together. These are some

of the important features likely in the joint communiqué of prime minister Manmohan Singh and president Barack Obama to be announced on Monday.

The recommendations of the Indo-US CEOs’ Forum for widening the partnership are expected to be reflected in the communiqué, which will define milestones for doubling bilateral trade to $100 billion in five years. The trade volume is expected to touch $50 billion this year, of which $27 billion has already been attained till July.

Singh and Obama are scheduled to meet early in the day to approve the communiqué. Already, half a dozen agreements and deals worth $14.5 billion between companies of the two countries have been announced, while the Obama entourage was in Mumbai.

“We have been working on the joint statement for over a month; simultaneously negotiations on sector-specific agreements were conducted,” said an official close to the development.

Sectors where separate agreements are likely to be signed or negotiated include agriculture & food, energy, defence, aviation, science & technology, besides education and knowledge issues. The communiqué is being built on Obama and Singh’s November 24, 2009 statement.

The Indo-US CEOs Forum co-chaired by Tata group chairman Ratan Tata and Honeywell chairman David M Cote will have a meeting in the run-up to the communiqué.

The talks between commerce minister Anand Sharma and US commerce secretary Gary Locke on the bilateral trade and investment treaty will continue as a follow-up. Commerce secretary Rahul Khuller had earlier said that the negotiations would carry on even after the Obama visit.

The joint statement will possibly speak of green energy and climate change, and means of combating the latter that will include access to American technology, equipment, spares and funds, recognising at the same time the ‘differential responsibilities and respective capabilities’ of the two sides on phasing out energy-guzzling and environmentally unsustainable technologies.

An understanding on green technologies will be preparatory to the two-week climate change meeting in Cancun, Mexico, beginning at the end of this month.

A separate energy deal is also in the works, and the joint statement may spell out cooperation on energy security across fuels, technologies and equipment.

This pact is likely to be signed by planning commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahlu­walia and US energy secretary Steven Chu. It will include sale of civil nuclear reactors for a total capacity of 10,000 mw. The nuclear power projects are specific to Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat.

Other deals and transactions to be formalised are worth $14.9 billion, including $9.5 billion of US exports. These include purchase of Boeing’s heavy transport military aircraft, engines for the Tejas Light combat aircraft and 30 Boeing 737-800s planes for SpiceJet.

The deal for six advanced gas and steam-based turbines to be purchased from GE Electronics and the grant of a $5 billion US Exim Bank loan to Anil Ambani’s Reliance Power for setting up a 8,000 mw gas fired power plant are already known. Another deal for 900 mw of solar and wind power stations will also be formalised.

The communiqué will, however, not be limited to economic, trade and investment issues alone. “There will also be issues of strategic importance to India and the US. The give and take will happen till last moment,” said a finance ministry official.

One key issue is the reform of the UN security council where India has been campaigning for a permanent seat. India has just been elected a member of the council for a two-year term. Only three countries had voted against the proposal to give India the temporary seat.

On Saturday Obama did not go beyond hinting that the US was open to considering India’s claim for a permanent seat. Though in a statement last year Washington recognised India’s “increasingly important role in world affairs”, the US has not yet given a clear indication if it supports India’s permanent membership of the council.

On the geo-political front, the communiqué is likely to enunciate the Indian and American position on Pakistan, Afghanistan and South East Asia.

India Inc on Sunday described Obama’s signal that the US would review the export control regime as the key takeaway so far from the visit. An industry veteran said the decision when implemented would have a long-term positive benefit for the Indian industry.

Obama signalled in Mumbai that his administration would relax curbs on export of certain dual use technologies that would help Indian industry across sectors. The US had clamped restrictions on India’s atomic energy and defence research laboratories and the organisation in space research in 1998 after India tested nuclear weapons.

Amit Mitra, Ficci secretary ge­neral who attended the business meeting in Mumbai, said, “The signal to review export controls is a strategic gain. Deals announced for various companies, while welcome, are only transactional in nature. The review, whi­ch hopefully will happen soon, will be a win-win situation for companies in US as also in India.”

India Inc has been arguing for quite some time for lifting the restrictions which had impacted sectors like bio-technology, advance computing, hardware and software peripherals and key defence applications.

A senior industrialist said the US had withdrawn 750 licences last year after the export ban. The key pitch of corporate India has been the issue of discrimination against this country, which has been denied technology in 10 of 16 identified areas.

“A simple but critical technology like monsoon tracking has been denied on the ground of dual use. We all know about the defence areas but denial of technology has been all-encompassing. Even critical vaccine technology is on the negative list,” said the industrialist, who did not wish to be named.

The next step forward will be the visit here of a delegation led by Locke for a dialogue on the review of the export control system.