NEW DELHI: US secretary for treasury, Janet L Yellen, on Sunday expressed the high value placed on the bilateral relationship between the United States and India during her meeting with finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in New Delhi.
Yellen, on her third trip to India, acknowledged the leadership demonstrated by India during its G20 presidency and emphasized the importance of continued close cooperation between the two countries.
In a statement, Yellen listed climate change and pandemics as key global challenges and commended India’s leadership on debt issues and its support for efforts to improve the multilateral debt restructuring process. She also welcomed India’s focus on advancing the evolution of the multilateral development banks (MDBs).
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During the meeting, Yellen emphasized the need to strengthen the coalition of shareholders working together to press for more ambition and specific reforms within the MDBs.
She estimated that the MDBs, with ongoing reforms, could unlock $200 billion over the next decade. Yellen praised the recently released G20 MDB Experts Group report as a valuable input and stressed the importance of progressing reforms before exploring capital increases.
The US treasury secretary expressed pride in supporting Indian origin Ajay Banga’s candidacy to lead the World Bank, believing that he is providing the necessary leadership to deliver critical reforms. Yellen underscored the immediate need to boost the Bank’s concessional lending capacity to address global challenges and support low-income countries, highlighting India’s partnership as vital to its success.
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Beyond their cooperation at the G20, she emphasized the strong bilateral relationship between the United States and India. She noted the close partnership between the two countries, illustrated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent State Visit to Washington. The officer highlighted the significant Indian diaspora in the United States and the country’s position as India’s largest export market. Bilateral trade reached an all-time high last year, with expectations of further growth in the future.
“Our collaboration spans a range of economic issues, including commercial and technological collaboration, strengthening supply chains, and catalyzing the clean energy transition,” she said.
Yellen expressed eagerness to work with India on an investment platform to facilitate India’s energy transition by delivering a lower cost of capital and increased private investment.
Furthermore, she appreciated India’s focus on finalizing the historic Two-Pillar global tax deal in the Inclusive Framework, stating that agreement is within reach.
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