By IANS
Washington : California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has put off a trade mission to India scheduled for mid-November to early next year and cancelled a planned trip to the United Kingdom.
Schwarzenegger was to lead the trade mission to New Delhi and Mumbai Nov 11-16 to promote products and services from America’s largest state, encourage foreign investment and expand cultural and educational ties.
The mission is expected to include business leaders from all industry sectors particularly agriculture, clean technology, biotech, tourism, aerospace, banking, high-tech and entertainment interested in building relationships in India.
In a statement issued in Sacramento, the governor said “California reaps tremendous benefits from these trade missions and we will work to reschedule that trip as soon as possible.”
Schwarzenegger said he cancelled the trips to India and United Kingdom because he wanted “to maintain the flexibility to call a special session.” His health care, political and water policy reforms have stalled in the state legislature, which is scheduled to wind up its business for the year on Sep 14 or perhaps earlier because of the Jewish holidays.
Schwarzenegger had planned the United Kingdom trip to address the annual conference of Britain’s Conservative Party in September. Instead, he will participate via satellite.His trade mission to India is being rescheduled for a time after the new year, the mission office said.
The top four major items of export from California to India are: computers and electronic products, transportation equipment, manufactured goods and agricultural products. Computers and electronic products contributed to more than 30 percent of the total Californian exports to India. The export of these items grew from $ 1.3 billion in 2005 to $1.6 billion in 2006.
From a modest $5.6 billion in 1990, India-US bilateral trade in merchandise goods has increased to $31.9 billion in 2006, representing 470 percent growth in a span of 16 years. US exports of merchandise to India increased from $7.9 billion in 2005 to more than $10 billion in 2006, an increase of more than 25 percent.