US keen to enhance visa services in Kerala

KOCHI: "The volume of trade between the US and China is ten times that between the US and India. It shows there is tremendous potential to improve bilateral relations here," said Andrew Simkin, the US Consulate General, Chennai. He was speaking at a function jointly organised by the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce, Kerala branch and Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry."We will be looking at enhancing visa services in Kerala," he said. "We are organising programmes like 'english access' classes. We will also be looking at improving tourism from the US," he added.Speaking about the bilateral ties, he said, "The buying power of Indians are on a rise. Earlier, the US firms never had to depend on foreign markets, the US market itself being huge. But in the last few years, with the explosive growth in the Asian markets including India, the US firms can benefit in trading with India."Speaking about Kerala, he said, "Though Kerala has the lowest population among the three states (Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala) that come under the US Consulate in Chennai, the largest number of immigrants to the US are from Kerala.""We have more of a challenge here in Kerala as compared to the other two states. Here there is a general misconception that the US is a superpower trying to dominate the world. This is a negative view, which is unfortunate. We are looking towards working on it," he said. Also present at the event were Vijay Narayan Govind, chairman of the IndoAmerican Chamber of Commerce, Kerala, and Prathapachandran, president of the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.