India-US relations will get a further boost with President Joe Biden’s visit to New Delhi for the G20 Summit under India’s presidency, a senior US official said here on Wednesday, underlining that the high-profile meeting comes against the backdrop of the country's successful positioning as the voice for the emerging economies.
Margaret MacLeod, Hindustani Spokesperson for the US Department of State, told PTI in an interview at the US Embassy in London ahead of her visit to New Delhi this week that the US is hopeful that sufficient common ground could be found at the conclusion of the G20 Summit.
The US State Department also welcomed India stepping up with its chairman statements during the course of the G20 presidency to reflect a broad majority of views. “We believe the G20 is a really good platform where the world’s major countries can get together for a dialogue,” said MacLeod, during the Hindi interview.
“The member countries represent 85 per cent of global GDP which makes the summit an ideal forum to discuss economic and other major challenges faced by the world… India’s G20 positioning as the voice for emerging economies has been a success. Despite a few countries blocking consensus during the course of G20 meetings, India stepped up with chairman statements that covered broad majority views and used internationally agreed language,” she said.
With reference to India-US bilateral relations, MacLeod said the summit meeting during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US in June was viewed as a “big success” in the US and the strategic ties would be further enhanced with Biden’s visit to New Delhi this week.
“We have an agreed position on the international rules of the road, with a focus on the principles of fairness and transparency,” she said. With the G20 representing both the developed and developing economies that make up a major chunk of the world’s economic output, the senior official highlighted steps in the field of women’s empowerment and pushed forward the reform agenda for multilateral organisations with a focus on poverty alleviation as some of the biggest achievements during India’s leadership of the Group of 20 intergovernmental forum.
“And, India’s voice as the world’s most populous nation is crucial on these matters,” she noted. With reference to Chinese President Xi Jinping skipping the leaders’ summit, the London-based official stressed that the US was keen to work with a representative from China.
“As President Biden has said, he is disappointed that Xi won’t be joining the summit, but whoever is the Chinese representative, we would like to work with them. There are several challenges facing the global economy today and dialogue is therefore key. Ultimately, it is for the country to decide who represents them at the summit,” she said.
On India’s role in the sphere of challenges faced as a result of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, MacLeod said the US government recognised that every country has its own historic ties with nations and India-Russia relations are very different from its own bilateral ties.
“Therefore, we would welcome any diplomatic efforts towards stopping Russia’s war efforts and bringing a speedy end to the conflict. We would hope that when acquiring Russian oil, India is mindful of minimising the country’s war efforts,” she said.“As Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said, this is not a time for war and when discussions take place against that backdrop, it is of crucial importance to the world,” she noted.
Among the other major issues on the agenda for the US at the summit, tackling climate change, worldwide poverty alleviation and the evolution of multilateral development banks and funding requirements were flagged as some of the focus areas, which also resonate with India's G20 theme of “One Earth, One Family, One Future”.
“It is a very appropriate theme because we have only one earth. When we look at issues such as climate change, it becomes all the more important. We hope the final communique finds sufficient common ground to lay out an agenda for the future,” she said.
