On his maiden India visit, US Secretary of Treasury, Janet L Yellen on Friday appreciated Prime Minister Narendra Modi for calling for an end to the ongoing Ukraine war.
Speaking at an event hosted by tech major Microsoft in Delhi, Yallen said, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi was correct when he said this is not an era of war.”
“I believe that ending Russia’s war is a moral imperative. It is also the single best thing we can do to help the global economy. This is a view that is broadly shared among policymakers of the world’s major economies,” she told the gathering.
Around two months back, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine. Speaking on the sidelines of the SCO Summit in Samarkhand, PM Modi said, “Today’s era is not an era of war, and I have spoken to you on the phone about this.”
Several high-ranking US officials like national security advisor Jake Sullivan had earlier welcomed and appreciated PM Modi’s remark.
In New Delhi, the US secretary of treasury further said that ending the Russia-Ukraine war was “the single best thing we can do to help the global economy”.
“Difficult times test us. But I believe the challenges we face are bringing the United States and India closer together than ever before,” she remarked, calling the Ukraine war “barbaric”.
She also criticised certain states for “weaponising trade”.
The senior US official appealed to India to work together to “address debt distress, promoting climate action, evolving the multilateral development banks, and embracing and shaping the changing economy” when New Delhi assumes the presidency of G-20.
“A successful Indian presidency is indispensable to our global economic recovery and sustained progress on our deepest problems. India’s G20 year is a chance to accelerate global coordination on debt restructuring. Two years ago, the G20 established the Common Framework to bring all the major bilateral creditors together to coordinate timely and orderly debt relief for low-income countries. But the Common Framework has not delivered on its promise, largely because of lack of cooperation from China.”
Calling India an indispensable partner of the US, Yellen said: “As President Biden said earlier this year, India is one of America’s indispensable partners. The dynamism I’ve felt at Microsoft today – and in Delhi more broadly – is a testament to the talent of the Indian people and the vibrancy of its culture. It’s no surprise that India is among the fastest-growing major economies in the world.”
“Our ties are stronger than ever before. The United States is home to the largest Indian diaspora outside of Asia. It serves as India’s largest export market. Bilateral trade between our two countries reached an all-time high last year, and we expect it to grow further in the years to come,” she concluded.