Finance Minister discusses financial issues with top US officials

News:

• In a series of meetings with US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker and US Trade Representative Mike Froman, Mr Jaitley who is on a nine day US tour discussed bilateral issues of mutual interests and concerns.
• He flagged off some of the issues including totalisation agreement, increased trade cooperation and preparation of economic dialogue, progress on negotiations of proposed Bilateral Investment Treaty.
• The totalisation agreement aims to protect interests of professionals of Indian-origin who contribute more than USD 1 billion each year to the US social security and he added the issues can be resolved by flagging them repeatedly.
• India has signed Bilateral Investment Protection and Promotion Agreement (BIPPA) with over 80 countries. However, it has put a freeze on these agreements following a spate of suits from telecom companies. The proposed BIPPA seeks to protect investments between the two nations.

Source: TheHindu