India invites US to partner in port development

G.K. Vasan releasing a Book of Abstract “Meeting the Challenges of the Coastal Environment”, at the five day Eighth International Conference on Coastal and Port Engineering in Developing Countries (PIANC - COPEDEC VIII), in Chennai on February 19, 2012.

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SME Times News Bureau | 22 Feb, 2012
India has invited investors from the US to participate in the country’s port development plans and earn rich rewards.

Union Shipping Minister G.K. Vasan Tuesday met a business delegation from USA led by Mr. Francisco J. Sanchez, Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade, US Department of Commerce and called the US for more investment and cooperation in India's port development plans.

The delegation was in Chennai to ‘explore opportunities in the Ports and Maritime Technology sector'. The official had come to Hyderabad in November last year, where he had said the same thing.

Addressing the media, on the sidelines of a business meeting organised by the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce, Mr Sanchez said that the US saw a big potential for American companies in the ports and maritime technology area in India, because India would spend $90 billion between now and 2020 in developing the sector, to raise Indian ports' handling capacity from 1 billion tonnes to 3.2 billion tonnes.

Foreign Direct Investments in ports are permitted in India under the automatic route. USA is the second largest source of FDI inflows into India.

Recalling the maritime cooperation between India and the USA, Vasan said, "A Memorandum of Cooperation on Maritime Transport, Science and Technology between the two countries was signed during 2005. It covers a wide area of mutual interest including maritime safety and security, port management and technological developments related to the maritime sector."

He added that the agreement also envisages cooperative arrangements between the US Merchant Marine Academy and the Indian Institute of Maritime Studies, which is now a constituent of the Indian Maritime University in the field of maritime training and education.

Stating that India train and educate more than 3,000 marine engineers every year on an average the minister said that there was adequate scope for the Indian and American maritime training institutions to work in close collaboration to produce quality maritime human resource.