India Looks To Strengthen Ties, With US With Greater Vigour: Nirmala Sitharaman

India and the US will look forward to strengthening bilateral ties with greater vigour, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said here on Friday. Addressing the media jointly with US Treasury Secretary Jannet Yellen at the start of the Ninth Indo-US Financial Partnership, Sitharaman said that bilateral talks will impart greater vigour to the long-standing relationship with the US.

India, Sitharaman said, "Deeply values its relationship with the United States as a trusted partner. We share a traditionally strong bilateral relationship underpinned with shared values, convergence of interests on wide ranging issues and vibrant people-to-people contact." The substantial and multi-faceted cooperation through the economic and Financial Partnership Forum remains a key cornerstone of the bilateral engagements, the finance minister added.

"Our meeting will lend greater vigour to our economic relationship, strengthen business-to-business links, and facilitate coordinated policy stance to address the pressing global economic challenges," she said. The 9th meeting of the Forum is being held against the backdrop of India preparing to assume the G20 presidency. "We will continue to rely on close cooperation with the US to address the global economic challenges in a more coordinated manner and in strengthening multilateralism," Sitharaman said.

US Treasury Secretary Yellen in her remarks said that the India-US collaboration would not only promote economic growth and stability, but it can also be instrumental to supporting economic prosperity across the Indo-Pacific region. "Looking ahead, we're also eager to discuss our shared priorities as India assumes the presidency of the G20 in the coming weeks.

"We also hope that the mutual understanding we build will help us work together to advance our shared goals, including mitigating the existential risk of climate change, evolving multilateral institutions, and addressing the debt burden faced by many developing countries," Yellen said. She further said that the US is committed to strengthening the bilateral economic relationship with India and deepening the level of cooperation and collaboration. Yellen said that issues concerning climate change and increased debt burden of the developing nations will be discussed at the G-20, which is going to be presided over by India. G-20 is a grouping of the developed and developing nations and India will be assuming its presidency on December 1.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit the Indonesian city of Bali from November 14 to 16 to attend the G-20 summit, the ministry of external affairs announced on Thursday. On the sidelines of the summit, Modi will hold bilateral meetings with some of his counterparts. The summit is likely to be attended by US President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, among others.

At the summit, the world leaders are expected to deliberate on the Ukraine conflict, its implications on food and energy security and other pressing global issues such as climate change. Modi is attending the summit at the invitation of Indonesian President Joko Widodo. Indonesia is the current chair of G-20.

(PTI)