India, US to continue engagement on visa issues

India and the United States of America on Tuesday decided to continue engagement on issues pertaining to visas and deliberated on the possibility of giving greater market access to agri-products.

According to reports, Union Minister of State, Commerce and Industry (Independent Charge) Nirmala Sitharaman and United States Trade Representative Michael Froman discussed these issues while co-chairing the Trade Policy Forum (TPF) meeting here.

The discussion on the visa issue was prompted by New Delhi's concerns with Washington DC over alleged discriminatory social security benefits to Indian professionals working in the US. According to reports, India wants an early conclusion of the Totalisation Agreement, which will remove the requirement of an expatriate in either country to contribute to social security schemes of the host nation.

Reports state that India and the US also agreed to establish a new technical dialogue to facilitate the movement of agricultural goods between the two nations and started a discussion on market access for agri-products.