Debt Issues, G20: What Nirmala Sitharaman, US Treasury Secretary Discussed

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Tuesday met with US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen here and the two leaders discussed strengthening the India-US economic and financial partnership and increasing engagements at bilateral and multilateral forums.

Ms Sitharaman, who is leading a high-powered delegation, met Yellen on the sidelines of the World Bank and IMF Spring Meetings 2023 here.

"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.

Ms Sitharaman 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, she also 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.

Ms Yellen applauded India for focusing on advancing the evolution of the multilateral development bank during its G-20 presidency.

The US is looking forward to continuing its close cooperation with India to help make India's G20 presidency a success, Ms Yellen told Ms Sitharaman.

"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.

Ms Yellen said the actions proposed for the World Bank's Development Committee are a very positive step, but much more work lies ahead of us this year. 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 said.

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.

Ajay 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," Ms Yellen said.

Ms Sitharaman also met with former commerce secretary Penny Pritzker and they discussed about the Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), providing accessibility for all, including Start Ups, besides supporting growth of FinTech.

She informed Ms Pritzker that scaling up of Digital Infrastructure and adoption of tech by common people in India has been phenomenal in the last couple of years.

The minister highlighted that in the space of manufacturing, India has the right kind of skills, including manpower and language proficiency along with a huge domestic market which provides a significant scaling advantage to the private sector.

In reference to the Union Budget 2023-24, Ms Sitharaman informed Pritzker that India has announced setting up of three centres of excellence in the area of artificial intelligence as it is a key focus for the government.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)