US President Joe Biden is looking forward to travelling to India in September, his administration’s point person for South and Central Asia has said, observing that 2023 is going to be a “big year” for the India-US relationship.
India's leadership in the G-20 further broadens its capacity to stand as a force for good in the world, the official said.
“This is gonna be a big year. Of course, India is hosting the G-20. This year, the United States is hosting APEC. Japan is hosting the G7. We have lots of our QUAD members who are taking on leadership roles. And it provides opportunities for all of us to bring our countries closer together,” Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, Donald Lu, told PTI in an interview on Thursday.
“I know our President is looking forward to travelling to India in September. That will be his first trip to India as part of the G-20 Leaders Summit. We're really excited about what's to come in the next few months,” he said.
“We're only a little over three months into this new year. And we've had a number of really exciting things that happened,” he said. This includes the visit of Secretary of State Tony Blinken, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to India. The India-US Forum in Delhi was attended by several senior administration officials.
India as the president of the G-20 has been taking a lead in advancing a positive agenda for the G-20.
“In March Dr Jaishankar hosted his QUAD counterparts for a ministerial meeting and extraordinary public events at the Raisina Dialogue with all four foreign ministers together. It was the first such public discussion with QUAD foreign ministers and really drove home how our four countries are coming together to support the people of the Indo-Pacific,” he said.