Watch Video: In New York, Piyush Goyal Highlights India's Innovation, Renewable Push Amid Trump's H1-B Visa Fee Hike

(MENAFN- Live Mint) Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal emphasised India's strength in talent, innovation, and clean energy on September 23 – days after US President Donald Trump raised the H1-B visa annual fee to $100,000.

Goyal, who is visiting the US, responded to the concerns around the steep hike in visa fees and said that India continues to provide solutions for corporations across the world, including in the United States , by leveraging its pool of skilled engineers and graduates, news agency ANI reported.

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"We also provide a huge amount of talent and innovation, for which Indian engineers and graduates are famous. That also provides us an opportunity to provide solutions for corporations across the world including in the US to support their growth plans, to focus on new research and development and new ideas," the minister said while delivering the keynote address at an event titled 'Energy Security in a Shifting Global Landscape: Building Resilient Energy Markets Across Borders ' in New York.

India, the minister said, is witnessing "convenient action," which Prime Minister Narendra Modi had envisioned as early as 2010 when he was Chief Minister of Gujarat . He also highlighted the country's energy potential, and noted that India is well placed to expand its clean energy capacity significantly over the next five years.

"Collectively today, India is in a sweet spot to expand our clean energy over the next 5 years, we hope to grow from over 250 GW to 550 GW, and India has a very high element advantage which not many countries can offer. We have an integrated national grid of 500 GW, half of which is renewable and offers you much more resilience and stability," he said.

'Address outstanding issues'

The minister also highlighted nuclear power as another area for India-US cooperation . He said that both nations are working to address outstanding issues and support private sector efforts in the nuclear energy space, including small modular nuclear reactors.

"India continues to invest in nuclear power, we would probably double our nuclear power in the coming years through government intervention. But, we do take it on a much bigger scale, it has had challenges of price, cost of energy, which will need to be sorted out," he noted.

While Goyal is in the US, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday and discussed a range of bilateral and international issues of "current concern".

Two Modi Ministers in the US

The visits by two top ministers in the Narendra Modi cabinet marks a significant outreach between the two nations that have traditionally been partners but have recently suffered a downturn in ties amid an escalation in criticism by Trump administration officials over India's purchases of Russian oil.

The talks, which were halted for some time, resumed after Donald Trump announced that his team was continuing trade negotiations with India.

We also provide a huge amount of talent and innovation, for which Indian engineers and graduates are famous.

Goyal is leading a delegation to the US for trade negotiations. Goyal met United States trade representative Jamieson Greer met in New York on Monday in an effort to accelerate trade talks between the two countries.

This was the third meeting between Goyal and Greer this year, following earlier talks in March and May. The two leaders were keen to build on the momentum established by the recent positive interactions between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump.

Also Read | Piyush Goyal to visit US on Sept 22 for 'early conclusion' of trade deal

Earlier this month, Donald Trump said he was optimistic about concluding a trade agreement with India. In response, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the trade negotiations would pave the way for“unlocking the limitless potential of the India-US partnership.”

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