On the sidelines of the World Bank and IMF Spring Meetings 2023 in Washington, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman met with US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Tuesday. The two leaders discussed deepening India-US economic and financial ties as well as expanding engagement in bilateral and multilateral forums.
“Union Finance Minister Smt. @nsitharaman met with the United States Treasury Secretary Ms.@SecYellen on the sidelines of the @WorldBank and IMF #SpringMeetings 2023, in Washington D.C., today,” tweeted the Ministry of Finance.
Taking the discussions ahead from their last meeting on November 22 during the Economic Financial Dialogue (EFD), in India, the two leaders discussed strengthening the India-US economic and financial partnership and increasing engagements at bilateral and multilateral forums.
“Wide-ranging conversation between Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on deepening bilateral economic partnership and engagement in multilateral fora,” tweeted Taranjit Singh Sandhu, Indian Ambassador to the US.
Sitharaman, the leader of a high-powered delegation, praised the multifaceted India-US partnership and called for greater cooperation in addressing global economic challenges, including climate change. She also emphasised the importance of the G20, Quad, and IPEF in fostering this collaboration.
“FM Smt. @nsitharaman appreciated the multi-faceted India-US partnership and called for further cooperation in addressing global economic challenges, including #ClimateChange. FM highlighted the role of #G20, QUAD and IPEF in fostering this partnership,” tweeted the Ministry of Finance.
Sitharaman also emphasised the importance of coordinated global action to address debt vulnerability in low and middle-income countries, as well as the need for financial assistance to assist developing economies in meeting their climate targets.
Yellen praised India for focusing its G-20 presidency on advancing the evolution of the multilateral development bank. She stated that the US was looking forward to continuing its close cooperation with India to ensure the success of India’s G20 presidency.
“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 stated that the G-20 can exert significant political pressure on multilateral development banks to accelerate their work on 21st-century global challenges as part of their efforts to end extreme poverty and expand shared prosperity. She also stated that having the right leadership at the World Bank is critical to continuing their progress.
The Finance Minister also met with US Ex-Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker to discuss the Digital Public Infrastructure, which provides access to all, including start-ups, while also supporting the growth of fintech.
“FM Smt. @nsitharaman informed Ms. @PennyPritzker that scaling up of #DigitalInfrastructure and adoption of tech by common people in India has been phenomenal in the last couple of years,” tweeted the Ministry of Finance.
Sitharaman also 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, FM Smt.@nsitharaman informed Ms. @PennyPritzker that India has announced setting up of 3 Centres of Excellence in the area of #ArtificialIntelligence as it is a key focus for the Government,” added the tweet.
