By Odishatv Bureau
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has expressed hope that trade negotiations between India and the US would reach a quotsuccessful conclusionquot emphasising the need for the two countries to find a ldquomeeting groundrdquo.
quotAnd I think well have to watch this space for the next few daysrdquo he said.
ldquoYou spoke about trade yes we are in the middle hopefully more than the middle of a very intricate trade negotiationquot Jaishankar said on Monday.
His remarks came during a conversation with Newsweek CEO Dev Pragad at the publicationrsquos headquarters at One World Trade Centre near the 9/11 Memorial in Manhattan.
quotObviously my hope would be that we bring it to a successful conclusion. I cannot guarantee it because theres another party to that discussionrdquo he said.
Jaishankar was responding to a question on the India-US relationship and the trade negotiations between the two nations.
He said that there will have to be give and take.
quotAnd just like the US or people in the US may have views about India people in India have views about the US too. And well have to find a kind of meeting ground. I believe its possiblequot he said.
In response to another question on the India-US trade negotiations Jaishankar said there have been very very intense discussions over the last few months. ldquoI cant vouch for which country has had how many rounds but I suspect we would be among the countries which have done the most.rdquo
An Indian delegation is currently in Washington DC and discussions are ongoing over the bilateral trade agreement.
ldquoSo our expectation our hope certainly is that we will bring it to a common groundrdquo he said adding that these are complicated negotiations.
ldquoYou are really looking at thousands of lines and doing very intricate trade-offs both based on what are actually the market values of those lines and what could be the expected market values of those lines. So these are not simple back-of-the-envelope calculations.
quotFar from it. So that exercise is going on. If they can get I think a fair balance you will get an outcome. Obviously diplomacy is an optimistic profession so I hope that we will reach there. But things being what they are its not done till its donerdquo he said.
In response to a question that President Donald Trump had said the trade deal with India will happen soon White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt agreed and said at the press briefing on Monday that Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick was in the Oval Office with President Trump and ldquothey are finalising these agreements.
quotYoull hear from the President and his team his trade team very soon when it comes to Indiaquot she said.
On the India-US relations from the presidency years of Bill Clinton to the current Trump administration Jaishankar said the trend lines in bilateral relations have been very positive.
The trend line over the last 25 years has been very strong because there are structural factors that work for the relationship such as economics technology education security and energy he said.
ldquoAll these are today drivers of the relationshipquot he said.
Jaishankar said there will be arguments and differences in the relationship.
ldquoSure it happens. It wont be for the first time. In fact at every one of these presidencies I can think of something which at that time was a friction pointrdquo he said as he recalled having to deal with Washingtons plans to sell F16 aircraft to Pakistan.
ldquoRelationships will never be free of issues even I would say differences. I think what matters is the ability to deal with it and to keep that trend going in the positive directionrdquo he said.