California Looking To Boost Trade Ties with India

Eleni Kounalakis, the lieutenant governor of California, on a visit to India said that the US state is hoping to boost trade ties with India and is looking for more foreign direct investment or FDI from the nation. She also said that apart from a big share of California exports coming into the country, the state also wants more Indian visitors via tie ups with different industries like the Indian film fraternity Bollywood.

Kounalakis recent to the country was with the Bay Area Business Council that comprises of key business people from different sectors like finance, aviation, consulting, hospitality, and information technology among others. She also said that the growth potential through investment and partnership in the tech sector between the two countries was enormous with a significant number of Indian technology professionals in the Bay Area.

“Right now, India is California’s 13th largest trade partner and we are looking for ways through which the government can help and lead to support and improve the trade relationships. There is such a strong culture of innovation in California and India and this is a very natural area of cooperation that has a tremendous potential for growth. We are looking for more connectivity, more trade relationships, and more exports of California goods into India and more FDI from India into California,” said Kounalakis.

“But there are other historic trade elements that we value and we are very sentimental about. Almond trade is a very special part of the relationship and we want to make sure that we can continue to support the export of almonds into India which is the largest international destination for California almonds,” she added.

Accompanying Kounalakis was also the president and CEO of Visit California, Caroline Beteta, wjo said that said the state of California views India as the number one opportunity market.

The delegation, during their visit to India also talked about a number of filming incentives in the US state of California, which were presented to the Producers Guild of India and other professionals in the capital New Delhi. This was based on a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between Visit California and the Producers Guild of India which will facilitate film, television and new media content shoots in California.