E-Paper
Yellen praises India for providing a reliable supply chain alternative
US secretary of the treasury
US secretary of the treasury Janet L Yellen on Friday praised India for providing a reliable supply chain alternative when global economies are facing major headwinds because of the unjustified Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Today, we face global headwinds and divergent economic pressures. The world economy was still recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic when Russia launched its brutal, unjustified invasion of Ukraine. This generated an unwelcome shock to fuel and food prices and greatly exacerbated inflation pressures, she said while jointly addressing the media with Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman ahead of the Ninth US-India Economic and Financial Partnership (EFP) Meeting.
She said challenges like this help strengthen partnerships like the one that exists between the US and India by demonstrating the necessity of cooperation and clear and open communication.
Our strong trade, investment, and people-to-people ties make the bilateral economic and financial relationship a critical element of that partnership. And India’s membership in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework and efforts to make our supply chains more resilient through what I call friend-shoring are tightening those ties.
Sitharaman said India deeply values its relationship with the US as a trusted partner. She added that fora like Quad and EFP are helping in deepening the India-US relationship for better economic ties and to resolve issues such as health and climate finance. She said the meeting on Friday will help in strengthening bilateral relationships and resolving global economic challenges.
Sitharaman said the meeting is happening against the backdrop of India assuming the G20 presidency and she hoped the two partners will help to promote multilateralism.
Yellen said India and the US’s collaboration in EFP will promote their growth and stability and can be instrumental in supporting economic prosperity across the Indo-Pacific region.
Looking ahead, we are also eager to discuss our shared priorities as India assumes the presidency of the G20 in the coming weeks, she said. 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, she said.
We are committed to strengthening our bilateral economic relationship with India and to deepening our level of cooperation and collaboration.
