Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday met with US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on the sidelines of the World Bank and IMF Spring Meetings 2023 in Washington. The two leaders discussed strengthening the India-US economic and financial partnership and increasing engagements at bilateral and multilateral forums.
“Taking the discussions ahead from their last meeting during the Economic Financial Dialogue #EFD, in India, in Nov. ’22, the two leaders discussed strengthening the India-US economic & financial partnership and increasing engagements at bilateral and multilateral forums,” the finance ministry said in a series of tweets.
Sitharaman, who is leading a high-powered delegation, appreciated the multi-faceted India-US partnership and called for further cooperation in addressing global economic challenges, including climate change. She also highlighted the role of G20, Quad, and IPEF in fostering this partnership.
During the meeting, the finance minister emphasised the importance of coordinated global action to address debt vulnerability in low and middle-income countries, besides the need for financial support to help developing economies achieve their climate goals.
Yellen applauded India for focusing on advancing the evolution of the multilateral development bank during its G-20 presidency. She said the US was looking forward to continuing its close cooperation with India to help make India’s G20 presidency a success. “I want to commend your presidency for its focus on advancing the evolution of the multilateral development banks. As you know, this initiative is a priority of mine and will be a major focus of our conversations this week,” she said.
Yellen said the G-20 can bring strong political momentum to bear to make sure that the multilateral development banks accelerate their work on 21st-century global challenges as part of their effort to end extreme poverty and expand shared prosperity. She also said that having the right leadership at the World Bank is critical in furthering the progress that they have made.
“That’s why I’m very pleased with President (Joe) Biden’s choice of Ajay Banga as our nominee to be the next President of the World Bank,” she said. Banga, she said, has the right leadership and management skills, background, and financial expertise to lead the World Bank at a critical moment in its history.
“And, of course, Ajay was born and spent much of his career in India. He has a keen understanding of the economic opportunities present in developing countries that will serve him well if he’s selected,” the treasury secretary said. “We also welcome India’s demonstrated leadership on debt issues as G-20 president and support your efforts to improve the debt restructuring process. The US also applauds your efforts to transition to renewable energy and stands ready to provide support in achieving your target of 500 gigawatts of non-fossil generation capacity by 2030,” Yellen said.
(With inputs from PTI)