Visiting president and CEO of the US Chamber of Commerce Thomas J Donohue said on Tuesday that no one was sure just how many jobs had been offshored from the US to India and that he was happy both countries were benefiting from the trend. ‘‘We lead in the fight to preserve for our companies the freedom and flexibility to source and trade around the world. We are doing so because it is good for the American economy and American jobs,’’ Donohue said.While speaking in favour of business process outsourcing, he added, ‘‘extensive exploration has shown that nobody was sure as to how many service jobs had moved to India or other countries.’’The American chamber also launched a trade development partnership which would focus on small and medium companies to grow trade and investments between Indian and US firms. The chamber said the main reason for the current visit to India was to find ways to cooperate in preserving Intellectual Property (IP). ‘‘India has a unique opportunity to boldly establish itself as a reform model in confronting the challenges of protecting IP, in an economic era where IP counts for everything,’’ Donohue said, adding, ‘‘The chief goal of my current visit is to explore ways to cooperate with India to fight counterfeiting and piracy of knowledge-based products produced by both our countries.’’ Donohue said estimates from various organisations including Interpol, the trade in counterfeit and illicit goods was between 6-9 pc of all current world trade.
