US eyes Indian jet deal that could create 27,000 jobs
Washington: The Obama administration is eyeing a lucrative multi-billion dollar tender for medium multi-role combat aircraft of Indian Air Force as this has the potential to create a whooping 27,000 jobs in the US.
At a time when unemployment rate continues to be at low ebb and the US President, Mr Barack Obama is struggling to create fresh jobs; such a deal bagged by an American company could give him a big political boost.
Two major fighter jet manufacturing company – Boeing and Lockheed Martin – are vying for the $10 billion Indian tender, which is expected to be raised by the US officials during the November India visit of the US President.
"If either jet wins, we estimate that it could bring 27,000 jobs to the US," the assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia, Mr Robert Blake, told a Baltimore-based think tank, thus indicating the important US attaches in bagging such a deal.
"Equally important, it will help seal our strategic objective of working wing-to-wing with India to bolster global security and stability," Mr Blake said.
India is the world's largest democracy, one of the world's fastest growing economies, and a rising power in Asia and beyond.
It has vibrant democratic institutions, a free press, a robust civil society, and an innovative private sector, he said.
"India's commitment to the values cherished by their people and espoused by their founders – democracy, pluralism, tolerance, openness, and respect for fundamental freedoms and human rights – animate our continued efforts to build a more peaceful, prosperous, inclusive, secure, and sustainable world," he said.
"These common values and our increasingly convergent interests have driven an unprecedented transformation in Indo-US relations in just one decade.
“After the Cold War, former president, Mr Bill Clinton, seized upon India's rapid economic emergence and liberalisation to lay the foundation for this transformation through his iconic five-day trip to India in the year 2000,” Mr Blake said.
The Bush administration built upon the Clinton legacy, with the US-India Civil Nuclear Deal — a landmark achievement for both of our countries, he said.
“Today, the wide scope and the intensity of our bilateral engagement is unprecedented and yet still growing.
“President Obama had called India our ‘indispensable’ partner for the 21st century. That’s why the President and Secretary Clinton are now forging a new strategic partnership with India that will help shape the 21st century,” Blake said.
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