Washington, Sep 25 (UNI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the bilateral with US President Joe Biden raised a number of issues involving the Indian community, including of getting access for Indian professionals to the US, and also mentioned the H1-B visa, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said.
Briefing the media after the first in-person bilateral between Prime Minister Modi and President Biden in the White House on Friday, he said: “With regard to the issues that were discussed bilaterally, the Prime Minister raised number of issues that involved the Indian Community. He spoke of the issue of getting access for Indian professionals to the United States.
“In that context he mentioned H1-B visa. He also spoke of the fact that many Indian professionals have worked here, contribute to Social Security, the return of those contributions when they leave the US is something that did affect a number of Indian nationals who have worked here, and he requested that this matter be looked into,” Shringla said.
The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in high-tech jobs.
The PM also laid strong emphasis on the development of trade and economic relations. “The two leaders felt that they should ask their concerned ministers, in our case, the Commerce and Industry minister, in the case of the United States, US trade representative, to see how to impart greater dynamism to the trade relationship, how to more speedily implement some of the decisions that would involve further accelerating the trade ties between countries," said the Foreign Secretary.
He said the two ministers have been tasked with looking at how to energize the trade relationship and how to take the trade relationship forward.
“There was also a discussion on the TRIPS waiver. There was appreciation of the US decision to support the initiative by India and South Africa to seek a waiver of IPR on vaccines, so that, at the WTO, so that vaccines could be made more widely available, particularly in the developing world. This is something that President Biden also commented on. He said that he took the decision fairly early on in his Presidency and that he was committed to that decision,” he added.
UNI/RN