'India is off to very promising start with its stewardship of G20'

Ned Price said that US' partnership with India is one of the most "consequential relationships" and they can work closely with India on everything that is a priority for both nations

The United States is deeply grateful to India for the way they have led their G20 today, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a press briefing on March 2 (local time). He said that India is off to a promising start with its stewardship of the G20.

"You heard from the Secretary, we are deeply grateful to our Indian partners for the way they have led their G20 today ..there is a lot more work to be done over the course of this year. But, India is off to a very promising start with its stewardship of the G20. Our partnership and this was a subject of the discussion between Secretary Antony Blinken and his counterpart Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar earlier today," Ned Price.

Price further said that US' partnership with India is one of the most "consequential relationships" and they can work closely with India on everything that is a priority for both nations, including mutual prosperity, supporting democracy, addressing the climate crisis and upholding the rules-based order.

"Our partnership with India is one of the most consequential relationships we have and that's because we work closely with India on just about everything that is a priority to us and everything that is a priority to India - increasing our mutual prosperity, supporting democracy, addressing the climate crisis, upholding rules-based order rounded in the international law and as that point is the rules-based order that is so important to us around the world, but particularly important to United States and India in the context of Indo-Pacific. It is helping to build and preserve a free and open Indo-Pacific region, a vision that we share with our Indian counterparts," Price said.

Speaking about the meeting held between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Ned Price said, "The Secretary and his Indian counterpart had an opportunity to talk about the tremendous work India has done so far in hosting the G20 Foreign Ministers and hosting the Finance Ministers as well and creating an agenda really that allows us to tackle the key issues that are so important in our global strategic partner with India in all of its breath and all of its depth."

Price said that G20 is an important instrument for the United States and India. He stressed that they have witnessed how the G20 can bring together countries for global action. He said that the US participated in the G20 Foreign Ministers meeting with two imperatives in mind first to see the success of G20 and to showcasing how the United States with our partners is working collaboratively to build a world that is more prosperous, sustainable and it is more inclusive in terms of the global economy.

"The G20 is an important instrument for us, its an important instrument for India. We have seen how the G20 can bring together countries for collective action we think what we have seen in India over the past couple of days was no exception," Price said.

"The United States for our part participated in the Foreign Ministers meeting with two imperatives in mind first to see to it that the G20 again with India at the helm was a success which clearly it was and second to demonstrate how the United States with our partners is working collaboratively to build a world that is more prosperous, sustainable and it is more inclusive in terms of the global economy and it delivers for the needs of people around the world, whether that's food, whether that is energy, whether that is health, whether that is helping people around the world to confront the challenges and threats that they face from..and narcotics, changing climate, the COVID and to everything in between," he added.

Notably, India assumed the G20 Presidency on December 1. In the press briefing, Price further said that the US will continue to work with India to bring an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine. He said that India has the ability to speak with moral clarity.

"India has the ability we have seen from Prime Minister Modi to speak with tremendous moral clarity. When Prime Minister Modi said last year "this is not an era of war", the world listened as they should because when Prime Minister Modi and his country said something to that effect, its meaningful to the United States, it's meaningful to Russia, it is meaningful to countries near and far."

"We will continue to work with our Indian partners they obviously have a unique role to play in this as the G20 host. But, also as a country with whom we have global strategic partnership and a country that has a unique relationship with Russia that we don't and just as India has consistently expressed that this is not and should not be an era of war," he added.

Speaking about working with India to bring an end to the war, Price said, "We hope that we can work closely with India to bring about an end to this war, an end to this Russian aggression to an end that is at its core just endurable and very much in line with the principles in the UN charter." Price said that India has longstanding and historical ties with Russia and is connected to Russia in many ways that US is not."

United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who has travelled to India to attend the G20 Foreign Ministers meeting on Thursday held discussions with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. Earlier, Ned Price in a statement informed that Blinken met with Jaishankar to discuss how India and the US can expand technology and defence cooperation and increase food energy, and health security.

Price stated that Blinken and Jaishankar spoke about efforts to elevate and expand strategic technology and defence industrial cooperation and promote food, energy, and global health security. They also held discussions to promote clean energy transition, counternarcotics cooperation and women's economic empowerment.

Ned Price said that the two leaders also discussed how to mitigate the global impacts of Russia's war in Ukraine, the United States and India's cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, the successful launch of the initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET), and regional issues.

Source: The Business Standard