Steps to boost Indo -US economic cooperation were put in place with the signing of a dozen agreements and MOUs between different Indian and US partners in the presence of Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Ambassador of India Mrs. Meera Shankar in Washington today.These include eight agreements between US and Indian Companies/institutions facilitated by the Confederation of Indian Industry(CII). The Indian Companies include HCL, CISCO, Tata Communications, Apollo, Jubiliant Organosys, Infosys, Cadila Pharmaceuticals and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry(FICCI). The American companies include Tyco Electronics, StemCyte, Univesity of Alabama, Microsoft Technologies , Novavax, University of Texas , Institute of International Education (IIE) and New York University. The agreements are for collaboration in the fields of education, telecommunication, medicine and research and development (R&D).The US Chamber of Commerce also signed two inter-governemtnal agreements with Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Department of AYUSH, Minsitry of Health and the Minsitry of Commerce . The Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) would facilitate comprehensive bilateral cooperation on a range issues including health, Intellectual Property Right (IPR) issues, human resource development and investment.