<div>With India among the fastest growing sources of investment into the US, the two countries have agreed to further strengthen bilateral economic ties and work towards a greater understanding of investment related issues.<br /><br />"Indian foreign direct investment (FDI) in the US increased from $227 million in 2002 to almost $5.2 billion in 2012, making India one of the fastest growing sources of investment into the US," Finance Minister P Chidambaram and his American counterpart Jack Lew said in a joint statement after their meeting here yesterday.<br /><br />During the fourth annual meeting of the India-US Economic and Financial Partnership held at the IMF headquarters here, the two leaders agreed that the economic and financial relationship between India and the US continues to deepen and strengthen.<br /><br />"Despite a challenging global economy, US-India bilateral trade in goods and services grew from $59.9 billion to $92.5 billion between 2009 and 2012," the joint statement said.<br /><br />"Total FDI inflows from the US into India, from April 2000 to July 2013, are $11.492 billion," it said.<br /><br />Chidambaram and Lew agreed to continue working towards a greater understanding on all investment related issues including taxation and IT enabled services, an equitable and principled resolution of ongoing tax disputes and strengthened bilateral ties in this regard, the joint statement said.<br /><br />The two leaders agreed to continue to cooperate on deepening capital markets and strengthening financial regulation.<br /><br />"We committed our financial sector experts to holding the next meeting of the Financial Regulatory Dialogue, which brings together our respective financial sector regulators, to consult on the full range of domestic and international regulatory concerns, in India in 2014," the joint statement said.<br /><br />(Agencies)</div>
