This week, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker co-chaired the U.S.-India CEO Forum. The CEO Forum includes representation from more than 20 U.S. and India private sector firms, and serves as a vehicle for business leaders to provide joint recommendations to both governments on how to strengthen the commercial ties between the U.S. and India.

This marks the second year that the Forum has been directly linked with the U.S.-India Strategic and Commercial Dialogue, an annual government-to-government convening that aims to deepen the bilateral relationship between the United States and India. With the addition of the commercial track to the U.S.-India Strategic Dialogue in 2015, it was important to officially join the CEO Forum to the S&CD so that private sector input could help prioritize and shape government policy objectives.

Participants in the Forum generated a list of recommendations that were discussed both during the CEO forum itself and later that afternoon during the Strategic and Commercial Dialogue. During the commercial track of the S&CD, the U.S. and Indian governments agreed to act on a number of CEO recommendations, including facilitating financing for infrastructure and energy projects, developing India’s smart cities, enhancing digital infrastructure, improving ease of doing business, and supporting small businesses, innovators and entrepreneurs.

Secretary Pritzker also used the CEO Forum as a way to take stock of progress that has been made in the U.S.-India commercial relationship over the past year, particularly with respect to improving the ease of doing business, the development of smart cities and infrastructure, promoting a culture that supports innovation, and the harmonization of standards.

Secretary Pritzker was joined at the CEO Forum by co-chairs Jeff Zients, Director of the U.S. National Economic Council; Nirmala Sitharaman, Indian Minister of State of Commerce and Instury; and Rita Teaotia, Secretary, Department of Commerce, Indian Ministry of Commerce & Industry. The private sector co-chairs for the Forum are David Cote, Chairman and CEO of Honeywell, and Cyrus Mistry, Chairman of Tata Group.