US Treasury Secretary John Snow repeated on Tuesday that the Bush administration is continuing to press China to adopt a more flexible currency regime to help the global economy.
Speaking to a group of Indian reporters on the second day of a four-day visit to India, Snow also expressed his hope that next month's World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations, in which he said India has a large stake, will be successful.
"Our main issues with China are intellectual property rights, counterfeiting, making sure WTO rules are enforced and moving to a more flexible currency regime," he said.
Snow, who is expected to seek India's support for broad tariff reduction at the Doha round talks, said India could benefit from measures to break down barriers to global trade.
Snow is to meet Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram in New Delhi on Wednesday for talks that include discussion of the Doha round talks in Hong Kong in December.
"It seems India would gain significantly from the Doha round and the US is clearly trying to encourage progress in the Doha round. I'm still hopeful on the Doha round," he said.
Snow met reporters for about 45 minutes near the end of his two-day visit to India's financial capital, Mumbai, and was questioned about his views on the threat to growth from hefty energy prices.
"Over time I think they (prices) will moderate," he said.
Crude oil prices that briefly topped $70 a barrel this year are still seen as one of the gravest risks to global growth.
Snow said in response to questions that he felt major central banks were doing a good job in setting monetary policy to keep inflation under control. The US Federal Reserve has boosted rates 12 times since mid-2004.
"The world has to lean against inflation ... It's the role of central bank governors to create conditions for non-inflationary growth. It's important they fulfil their responsibility," he said.
Snow will wrap up his visit to India on Thursday after a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He then returns to Washington.
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