and if they were really talking about doha so i did three things in my eight to 10 minutes.one, i would like to pick up on some of the themes that susan and arvind panagariya talk about about the trade policy of the obama administration and tie that to something we haven't talked about and that is the united states india regionalism and end up with questions about india's ability to participate either the fda or the regional agreement. so let me start with the trade policy of the obama administration anti-finally to india, but not sort of specifically at the beginning. in an earlier session we had on trade policy here, i mentioned that a colleague of mine at the kennedy school first couple of months of the obama administration, i think this is true today, are still today described mr. obama or the obama administration, the president as a passive free trader and his point was that the president was willing to intervene against the most egregious potential or actual island he upgrade protection or progression and trade, but not really to date at that time, and i think this is

the obama administration combined with the potential new impetus in india for, perhaps, more work in doha as well as in fta policy what could we see happening in terms of perhaps a u.s./india fta? and with respect to the other regional arrangements, can the u.s. compete with the e.u. and korea without an fta in end cra? -- india? >> i think that it is interesting to look at the evolution of india's ftas as claude was outlining, and the rubber is really hitting the road in the negotiations, india's negotiations with the e.u. because interestingly in india they can launch negotiations very quickly quite in contrast to what happens in the united states where we have to deal with fast track and congressional approval. i often looked with envy at how fast they can get things started. the question is what are they getting started, and what are they ending up with? with most of the negotiations to date they're very, very limited in scope and even with tariffs that wouldn't pass muster in the wto and certainly wouldn't be of the scale, anywhere of the scale we would be interested in. but what i h

but it's a distantly apart in the doha negotiation round in the world trade organization. the economic crisis have also brought into question faith in free trade and open markets. this has raised concerns in the united states about outsourcing and immigration. to discuss these and related issues, we have with us today for eminent analysts. their full bios are on line, but let me briefly introduce you. our first beaker will be susan g. esserman. she is a partner in the washington office of steptoe and johnson where she chairs the first international law department or prior to joining steptoe, susan was deputy u.s. tr and held three additional senior post at u.s. gr and the department of commerce during the clinton administration. david goode joins the tata sons group in 2005. after a 34 year career at the state department. at state, david was the director of the office of india, nepal, sri lanka and multi-affairs. following a three-year stint as american council judgment in mumbai. arvind panagariya, professor of indian political economy at columbia university. as well as a

march i have made three trips overseas, and the first was to the sudan, darfur, nand the second was to doha and cairo. the last trip was to london and paris and beijing. i have learned that we need to have constructive dialogue with the international community, with all of the parties in the sudan. we have to do this to save lives, to bring about a lasting peace, more suffering is simply unacceptable. we need to have engagement in r four, to fully implement the comprehensive peace agreement. this is not only about discussions, this is about making a difference. this is about getting results. the efforts to build multiple channels of dialogue has produced positive results. we have worked with the united nations to restore humanitarian assistance in darfur. the united nations and others have been able to increase their capacity, and we have closed the gap, that existed when they were expelled. the situation remains fragile, and the short-term gains still need to be strengthened. a constructive dialogue will also help us to negotiate a cease-fire, so the people living in these camps, the refug

and india like so many countries who are negotiating in the round and really the backdrop to the wto/dohaound is the fear that so many countries have of lowering their tariffs on a most favored nation basis because of the fear of competition from china. >> well, with that i think we'll conclude our economic panel. if you'll join me in a round of applause for our panelists. [applause] we have next a keynote by ambassador blake so, please, stay seated. [inaudible conversations] good afternoon everybody if you'd be kind enough to take your seats. good afternoon everybody, for those of you joining us im danielle pletka, vice president for foreign studies at aei. one of the nicest things about a good event at aei is that daschle is hard to get people to sit down because they are all enjoying the company of the other folks in the audience and it tells me that we have not only wonderful speakers, but an interesting and lively audiences that have a lot in common. that's one of the hallmarks of success for any and so thank you all for being here. it's my great pleasure to wealth, for the first tim