Washington: US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen on Tuesday (local time) said that the US is working closely with India during its G20 Presidency on global economic issues. She said that the "close collaboration" between India and the US showcases how "advanced and emerging economies" can bridge political differences and make progress on shared policy objectives.
While addressing the US-India Business Council India Ideas Summit on Tuesday, Janet Yellen said, "We are working closely with India during its G20 presidency on global economic issues. I believe that our close collaboration is showing the world how advanced and emerging economies can bridge policy differences and make progress on our shared policy objectives. When India and the United States work together, we can add significant momentum to important efforts."
India assumed the G20 Presidency on December 1, 2022. Janet Yellen stressed that debt distress in developing nations continues to pose a risk to macroeconomic growth and stability. She stated that more needs to be done to provide "timely and comprehensive debt treatments." She lauded India for supporting Sri Lankan authorities in its reform efforts.
Yellen said, "We have taken steps forward on urgent cases like Sri Lanka where India's proactive actions have been critical to supporting the authorities' reform efforts. We are continuing to push for urgent action in other cases as well." She said that the US is actively working to help India attract private capital to close its infrastructure gap. She said that India and US have made collective efforts to evolve the multilateral development banks to address global challenges like climate change, pandemics, fragility and conflict. Yellen said that she looked forward to supporting American businesses in India.
Janet Yellen said, "We are working together to shape the digital economy. We are collaborating with India to deliver tangible outcomes on the G20's work to enhance cross-border payments - as well as our financial inclusion efforts to connect the unbanked around the world."
Yellen noted that the US has made significant progress to bolster bilateral ties with India. She stated that the bilateral trade between India and US reached over USD 190 billion in 2022. She said that the Biden administration has taken "concrete steps" to build on this robust partnership.
"We have made significant progress to strengthen our bilateral ties with India. The United States is India's largest trading partner. In 2022, our bilateral trade reached over USD 190 billion. And we have significant cross-border investments and durable people-to-people ties as the two largest democracies in the world," Yellen said. The US Secretary of the Treasury has called US-India Economic and Financial Partnership a "centrepiece" of formal economic dialogue since the global financial crisis. Yellen said that she has met with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman over ten times since assuming office and stressed that this demonstrates the importance of close collaboration between India and the US India on issues spanning the macroeconomy, climate finance and financial regulation.
Yellen called India and US close partners in responding to global disruptions. She said, "We have also been close partners in responding to global disruptions and advancing our shared goal of a free and open Indo-Pacific. We are working closely with India, Australia, and Japan through the Quad."
Yellen said that the US is pursuing a policy called "friend-shoring" to deepen integration with its trusted trading partners. She said that they aim to expand trade ties with various nations that the US can rely on to create more redundancies in critical supply chains. She called India one of the US' reliable trading partners.
"Our aim is to expand trade ties with the broad array of countries we can rely on - in order to create more redundancies in our critical supply chains. India is one of our reliable trading partners. Among other initiatives, we are working to connect new communities to the global market. And we are working to do so in a way that helps these communities move up the value chain," Yellen said.
Yellen said, "India's infrastructure investments have significant potential to boost productivity and increase the efficiency of trade between our two countries." She stated that India and US are following what she described as "modern supply-side" policies, which include investing in human capital, physical capital, and science and technology to boost long-term economic potential. She said that both nations are also pursuing leadership in close energy technologies. —ANI
