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washington [US]Jan 12 (ANI): India has asked the US to expedite the issuance of business visas so that people can make short trips to pursue their business and trade interests, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Wednesday.
“We have resonated very well with our request that business visas take a long time to issue within India and this is an area that needs to be expedited so business people who are both interested need to process business visas faster like this Trade, investment will not be affected,” Piyush Goyal told a news conference after attending the 13th India-US Trade Policy Forum in Washington.
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“India has made a request to the US that they may expedite the issuance of regular business visas for short-term travel for people to pursue trade and business interests,” he added.
Goyal emphasized that the flow of professionals, students, skilled workers, investors and business travelers between the two countries is expanding.
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“This helps strengthen our bilateral relationship. We are pleased that the United States will be able to expedite the processing of student visas so that in a post-pandemic situation, our students will come to the United States to continue their academic semester in the fall of 2022,” he added.
Goyal will be on an official visit to New York and Washington DC from January 9-11 to participate in the India-US Trade Policy Forum. His visit included mission-level talks and a one-on-one meeting with USTR Ambassador Catherine Day.
The US State Department said US embassies and consulates in India issued nearly 1,25,000 student visas in fiscal year 2022, breaking their record, a week after requesting business visa waivers.
“Our embassy and consulates in India broke the all-time record for the number of student visas issued in a single fiscal year in 2022. We issued nearly 125,000 student visas,” US State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a news briefing. Inquiries about slowdown in processing visa backlog for Indian tourists.
In an earlier press release, the U.S. Department of Commerce said India and the U.S. are natural partners, with trade complementarities, long-term strategic and economic ties, people-to-people exchanges, and both are vibrant democracies.
The two countries are also cooperating under QUAD, I2U2 (India-Israel/UAE-US) and IPEF (Indo-Pacific Economic Framework).
Regular leadership exchanges are an integral part of expanding bilateral engagement. The outcomes of these visits have helped to further strengthen the multifaceted relationship between the two countries.
After four years, the 12th TPF Ministerial Conference will be held in New Delhi on November 23, 2021. The working group was reactivated after the last ministerial meeting. TPF is a platform for the two countries to continue to engage in trade and to promote trade and investment relations between the two countries. (Arnie)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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