India and the US have agreed to further strengthen bilateral economic ties and work towards a greater understanding of investment related issues. Finance Minister P Chidambaram and his American counterpart Jack Lew said in a joint statement after their meeting in Washington, India has become one of the fastest growing sources of investment into the US. During the fourth annual meeting of the India-US Economic and Financial Partnership held at the IMF headquarters, the two leaders agreed that the economic and financial relationship between India and the US continues to deepen and strengthen.

The joint statement said, despite a challenging global economy, US-India bilateral trade in goods and services grew from 59.9 billion dollars to 92.5 billion between 2009 and 2012.
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. The two leaders agreed to continue to cooperate on deepening capital markets and strengthening financial regulation.