U.S. lawmaker meets Prime Minister Modi, talks focus on strengthening ties, GST, attracting investment,

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Indian-American Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Illinois, met one-on-one with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi last week to discuss the bilateral relationship between the United States and India.  The formal talks were held at the Modi’s official residence.

Krishnamoorthi went on the invitation of India’s Ministry of External Affairs, to speak at the India-U.S. Strategic Forum meeting and told News India Times he was the only U.S. lawmaker at the meeting which was attended by several American and Indian corporate leaders.

During the approximately 20-minute meeting with the Prime Minister, Krishnamoorthi said Modi was “extremely cordial and it was a wide-ranging conversation” about Indian-Americans, strengthening trade ties, and the new Goods and Services Tax regulations being implemented in India.

“The GST is of great interest to U.S. investors,” Krishnamoorthi said. “The taxation system in India was very complicated and we are hoping this will simplify it.”

Krishnamoorthi also plugged his constituency, District 8, in Illinois, inviting Indian businesses to invest there, and invited the Prime Minister to visit his district. “We agreed we should work together to strengthen ties and in the U.S. Congress,” Krishnamoorthi told News India Times.

In his speeches at the Forum, Krishnamoorthi stressed the need to strengthen, broaden, and deepen relations to make them beneficial for both nations, and invited Indian investors to come to his state and his district.

“The United States and India are joined not only by our common interests and culture, but also by our shared commitment to the values of liberty, justice, and democracy,” Krishnamoorthi reiterated in a press release about his visit. I look forward to helping to bolster the special ties between our countries for our mutual benefit in the years to come.”

“From billions in economic trade between our nations to our essential security partnership and ongoing cultural exchanges, the U.S.-India relationship is one of the most important in the world, and will only become more so in the coming century.”

In the U.S. Congress, Krishnamoorthi is one of four Indian-American lawmakers. He serves on the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and on the Committee on Education and the Workforce. In addition, he is the ranking member, and top Democrat, on the Subcommittee on Health Care, Benefits, and Administrative Rules.

Krishnamoorthi has in the past, served as an Illinois Special Assistant Attorney General in the public corruption unit and as Illinois Deputy Treasurer before becoming president of small businesses in the Chicago area that are in the national security and renewable energy sectors.

He and his wife Priya live in Schaumburg, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, with their three children.