Countries creating roadblocks in flow of talents across borders will be 'net losers': Jaishankar

New Delhi, Dec 3 (PTI) Countries creating too many roadblocks in flow of professionals across borders will be "net losers" and India needs to convince other nations that the use of talent is for mutual benefit, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Wednesday.

His comments at an interactive session at a conclave on mobility came against the backdrop of concerns over the US's decision to impose new fees on H-1B visas in line with the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration.

"That they would be net losers if they erect too many roadblocks to the flow of talent. Particularly if you move into an era of advanced manufacturing, you will need more talent," Jaishankar said.

He was responding to a question on the larger issues linked to immigration including concerns over the H-1B visa programme.

Without naming any country, Jaishankar said India needs to convince other nations that the use of "talent across boundaries is to our mutual benefit.

"Often the people in the forefront of entrepreneurship and technology would actually make the case for mobility. It is the people who..have a certain political base or a constituency to address, who may oppose it, and they will probably reach some modus vivendi eventually," he said.

Jaishankar also linked the resistance to mobility of talents in some countries to efforts to get certain companies shift their manufacturing hubs from China.

Under the H-1B visa programme, companies recruit foreign workers with specialised skills to work in the US, initially for three years that can be renewed for three more years.

Indians made up an estimated 71 per cent of all approved H-1B applications in recent years, according to US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

"If there is pressure on jobs in many developed countries, the pressure is less because people came in, in those sectors. It is more because they allowed manufacturing to go out and you know where," Jaishankar said.

"If it becomes harder for people to travel, the work is not going to stop. If people don't travel, the work will travel," he added.

Jaishankar also spoke extensively on the importance of legal mobility.

"In a globalised world, I think we often, when we talk of our external engagement, especially our economic engagement, we tend to really focus on trade. Now, there is nothing wrong with that," he said.

"But we often neglect work and the mobility associated with work. Just to give you a sense of what it is to which we don't pay enough attention. Last year, remittances to India were USD 135 billion. That's about roughly twice our exports to the United States," he said.

"Now, it's just the remittances. Because think of the people abroad, their own livelihood, the assets they have created there," he said.

At the same time, Jaishankar also cautioned against illegal mobility and listed possible fall out of it.

"If you look at trafficking per se, all the associated crimes, and often it leads people with agendas of various kinds, political agendas, separatist agendas, they all join up to the illegal mobility side of it," he said.

Jaishankar also highlighted how the government has been trying to address the problems of Indians living abroad.

"In the last three years, only in the Gulf, we actually have addressed 138,000 grievances using the Madad portal," he said.

The external affairs minister said India has also been extending help to Indians and Indian diaspora under the framework of Indian Community Welfare Fund.

"In the last three years, 238,000 people have benefited from the use of this Community Welfare Fund. These are people for whom we may have bought tickets back home, who had legal cases abroad. In some cases, they may have passed away, so their last rights were done," he said.

Jaishankar also highlighted the importance of mobility agreements India linked with many countries.

"Clearly today, intergovernmental agreements dealing with mobility are a very important part of our diplomacy. We have 21 such agreements in addition to which we have mobility provisions in some of the free trade agreements that we have done," he said.

"And we certainly, in many relationships, see that as actually adding a new dimension to the relationship," he added. PTI MPB ZMN