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I hope sanctions will be lifted soon, Celeste tells CII

Syed Firdaus Ashraf in Jaipur

"I hope the sanctions against India will be completely lifted down the line," Richard Celeste, US ambassador to India, told the CII Partnership Summit today.

"We know that sanctions interrupt business but a very constructive talk is going on between Jaswant Singh, India's external affairs minister, and Strobe Talbott, US deputy secretary. There has been a sufficient progress in the last few months. I seriously believe that talks are going in a positive direction," he further said.

Celeste made a surprise appearance at the summit and seemed to have made up for the absence of Defence Minister George Fernandes, who had to skip the function due to a Cabinet meeting.

Celeste emphasised the three "Es" essential for a robust economy -- education, energy and environment. "If I were a businessman I would be an enthusiastic entrepreneur in one of these Es. There are tremendous opportunities in this sector beyond our imagination," he said.

He recalled that Nobel Laureate Professor Amartya Sen is also highlighting the importance of education in promoting development.

"There is tremendous productive investment opportunity in this sector. If you invest there will be great returns. And, I must tell you that there is a need for educating the girl-child."

On environment, he said, "When I was the governor of Ohio in the US, we encouraged technology-driven business. We encouraged a company to use municipal waste into organic compound and then use that organic compound as agriculture fertiliser. That company did a business of $ 200 million later on. It won an award from the US government. And recently they are venturing into joint ventures in India too."

Discussing subsidies, he said, "India must concentrate and pay attention on productive subsidies rather than wasteful subsidies. The subsidies, which do not give value, must be diverted to other sectors. And there is a need for the people to be trained in vocational skills so that they can be trained for various other jobs."

On the relations between the US and India, Celeste said, "One of the major investment opportunities will be in the information technology sector. Today, a small software company in Chandigarh is doing good business with the US. It started with a handful of people and today it employs nearly 1,400 people and in the near future they plan to employ 5,000 people, thus generating tremendous job opportunities."

Celeste drew the audience's attention to the Internet and E-commerce by saying that the world's largest bookstore is in cyberspace. "Whether you are in Kanpur or in Chicago, it does not make a difference. You need to train the people for this new challenge."

He felt the IT taskforce had underestimated the job potential by putting the figure at one million. There will be nearly 10 million jobs available in the IT sector, he said.

He called for devising training programmes for bureaucrats. "If they want to say no to a particular project, then they must say it soon rather than delaying the decisions. The businessmen understand the value of time. The bureaucracy too must understand the value of time. And, I know there is a lot of effort in that direction.''

The advantage of China over India is that the former opened up its economy long back, he pointed out. He also felt that the decision-making and implementation in Beijing are faster. He also stated that the Chinese are not ambivalent. In India there is always a debate on how much foreign investment is needed.

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