100 US Congressmen could visit India over the next two years to promote Indo-US ties.
About 100 American Congressmen and Senators will visit India over the next two years to boost India-US ties according to a top advocacy group.
The US-India Business Council works to improve business relations between India and United States through talks and deeper engagement. The Council plans to start the process by the end of 2016, when the new Congress is formed.
"It is important that we convey a right story about India to the both the House and the Senate. The best way to convey that is for them to feel firsthand what is India all about - its culture, its politics," Mukesh Aghi, Council president said.
According to LegiStorm, an unofficial site, which tracks foreign travel by US lawmakers India is currently not a popular destination. Israel tops the list, with US lawmakers making 159 trips to the country in 2015. West Bank comes second with 110 trips, Germany came third with 62 trips, followed by Canada, Guatemala, Cuba, Tanzania and Japan.
India does not figure in this list of top 10 countries frequently visited by US lawmakers.
"We would have to work in partnership with the Government of India, because we would like them to have access to senior bureaucrats, ministers and have an open dialogue to talk to them," Mr Aghi said.
A delegation of Indian parliamentarians is scheduled to reach US next week. The seven member delegation includes Baijayant Panda of the Biju Janata Dal, Anurag Thakur and Harish Chandra Meena from BJP, Neeraj Shekhar form Samajwadi Party, Jayadev Galla from the Telugu Desam Party and Rajeev Satav and Sushmita Dev from Indian National Congress.
The delegation will meet with elected representatives, policy experts, and industry members for a deeper understanding of India-US relations, a FICCI statement said.