Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman met US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen here on Tuesday and the two leaders discussed strengthening India-US economic and financial partnership and enhancing engagement in bilateral and multilateral fora.
Sitharaman, who is leading a high-powered delegation, met Yellen on the sidelines of the World Bank and IMF Spring Meetings 2023 here.
“In India, carrying forward discussions from their previous meeting during the Economic Financial Dialogue #EFD on November 22, the two leaders discussed strengthening the India-US economic and financial partnership and enhancing engagement in bilateral and multilateral fora,” Finance Ministry said in a series of tweets.
Sitharaman lauded the multi-faceted India-US partnership and called for further cooperation in tackling global economic challenges, including climate change. He also highlighted the role of G20, QUAD and IPEF in promoting this partnership.
During the meeting, they stressed the importance of coordinated global action to address credit vulnerability in low- and middle-income countries, in addition to the need for financial assistance to help developing economies achieve their climate goals.
Yellen commended India for its focus on furthering the development of the Multilateral Development Bank during its presidency of the G-20.
Yellen told Sitharaman that the US looked forward to continuing its close cooperation with India to help make India’s G20 presidency a success.
“I want to commend your presidency for focusing on advancing the development of multilateral development banks. As you know, this initiative is a priority of mine and will be a major focus of our talks this week,” she said .
Yellen said the proposed move to the World Bank’s Development Committee is a very positive step, but there is much more ahead of us this year. He said the G-20 can bring strong political momentum to ensure that the Multilateral Development Bank accelerates its work on global challenges of the 21st century as part of its effort to end extreme poverty and expand shared prosperity. Bring it
He also said that it is important to have the right leadership in place at the World Bank to build on the progress they have made. “That’s why I’m so pleased that President (Joe) Biden has chosen Ajay Banga as our candidate to be the next President of the World Bank,” he said.
He said, Banga has the right leadership and management skills, background and financial expertise to lead at a critical moment in the history of the World Bank.
“And of course, Ajay was born and spent most of his career in India. He has a keen understanding of the economic opportunities that exist in developing countries that will serve him well if elected,” said the Treasury Secretary.
“We also welcome India’s demonstrated leadership on debt issues as G-20 Chair, and support your efforts to reform the debt restructuring process. The United States also appreciates your efforts to shift to renewable energy and stands ready to help you achieve your goal of 500 gigawatts of non-fossil generating capacity by 2030,” Yellen said.
Sitharaman also met former Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker and they discussed about Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) which provides accessibility for all including start-ups besides supporting the growth of fintechs.
He told Pritzker that the growth of digital infrastructure and adoption of technology by common people in India has been extraordinary over the past few years.
The minister highlighted that in the area of manufacturing, India has the right kind of skills, including manpower and language proficiency, as well as a huge domestic market that provides the private sector with a significant scaling advantage.
In the context of the Union Budget 2023-24, Sitharaman informed Pritzker that India has announced setting up of three centers of excellence in the area of Artificial Intelligence as a major focus for the government.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)