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Remove all sanctions against India: Pallone

Democratic Congressman Frank Pallone has urged a US House of Representatives panel to approve an amendment, seeking to remove the remaining US economic sanctions, particularly the denial of World Bank funding to India, which have been in place since its May 1998 nuclear tests.

"I strongly believe that it is in the interest of the United States to allow these loans to proceed," he said yesterday in his testimony before a House of Representatives panel on foreign operations.

"There are more than $ 1 billion worth of loans for India held up at the World Bank due to US opposition, including funding for highway and state power projects."

He called its members to include language in the bill for the next fiscal year, which begins on October 1 that would waive these remaining sanctions.

"These projects would have a significant ripple effect, potentially lifting millions out of poverty. Further, whatever our differences with India's central government, these projects are under the jurisdiction of individual state governments in India," he added.

He stressed the importance of continuing and strengthening US initiatives to promote economic development, environmental protection, clean energy resources and regional co-operation in India.

Pallone, who took part in President Clinton's recent trip to South Asia, urged fellow lawmakers to support the Clinton administration's proposals for India.

He, however, welcomed the resumption of activities by the United States Agency for International Development or USAID in India, which were halted because of the automatic invoking of the Glenn Amendment sanctions after India's nuclear tests. Pallone noted that important World Bank loans to India continue to be held up by the remaining sanctions.

Pallone said, "The initiatives announced during President Clinton's trip, combined with the President's decision to waive most of the sanctions imposed on India after the nuclear tests, had helped usher in a new era in Indo-US relations.

He said, "It would be more accurate to say that we have resumed the new era in our relations that began in the early '90s, but was briefly interrupted because of the sanctions regime imposed after the nuclear tests."

Last year, Pallone recalled, the President took the important step of waiving most of the economic sanctions imposed on India.

The waivers have allowed US aid to resume work on so-called 'non-basic human needs,' such as: the Financial Institutions Reform and Expansion or FIRE programme, and the South Asia Regional Initiative or SARI.

This would help promote better regional co-operation, particularly in the energy sector and an effort to extend information technology into rural areas, with a particular focus on education.

In his testimony, Pallone cited the FIRE programme as one of the most important US aid programmes in India. This four-year, $ 25-million initiative would provide technical assistance to strengthen Indian financial markets and regulatory agencies.

UNI

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