US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal have officially launched the US-India CEO Forum to bring together top-level business executives and discuss ways to strengthen economic and commercial ties between the two countries.

They were joined by Forum's Private Sector Co-Chairs James Taiclet (Chairman, President, and CEO, Lockheed Martin Corporation) and Natarajan Chandrasekaran (Chairman, Tata Sons), as well as other members of the US and Indian CEO sections, the US Department of Commerce said in a statement on Wednesday.

During the meeting, Raimondo and Goyal shared their priorities for the bilateral relationship with the members.

The leads for each of the forum's seven working groups shared their strategic outlook for their term of service, the statement said.

Raimondo and Goyal also announced their intent to hold an in-person meeting in early 2023, it added.

The launch of the US-India CEO Forum has taken place ahead of the visit of US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

Yellen will travel to New Delhi to participate in the US-India Economic and Financial Partnership on November 11.

The US has surpassed China to become India's top trading partner in 2021-22, reflecting the strengthening economic ties between the two countries.

According to the data of the commerce ministry, in 2021-22, the bilateral trade between the two countries stood at USD 119.42 billion as against USD 80.51 billion in 2020-21.

India's exports to the US surged to USD 76.11 billion in 2021-22 from USD 51.62 billion in the previous fiscal year, while imports rose to USD 43.31 billion as compared to about USD 29 billion in 2020-21.

The US is one of the few countries with which India has a trade surplus. In 2021-22, India had a trade surplus of USD 32.8 billion with the US.

Trade experts believe that the trend of increasing bilateral trade with the US will continue in the coming years as New Delhi and Washington are engaged in further strengthening the economic ties.