Nirmala Sitharaman meets Janet Yellen, says will increase cooperation with US to address economic challenges

In a meeting with US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Friday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India would continue to rely on close cooperation with the US to address the global economic challenges in a more coordinated manner.  Welcoming Yellen as part of the 9th India-USA economic and financial partnership meeting in New Delhi, Sitharaman said India deeply values its relationship with the United States as a trusted partner.

"The QUAD and the Indo-Pacific economic framework have further expanded our cooperation. They serve as an important forum for stronger collaboration in developing sustainable economies, ensuring global health security,  resilient supply chains, clean energy technologies, green infrastructure and climate finance," Sitharaman said.

She said that the meeting would also strengthen business-to-business links.

The 9th India-USA economic and financial partnership meeting comes ahead of India assuming the G20 Presidency. Explaining the "Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam" theme of the presidency to Yellen, Sitharaman said it meant "One earth. One family. One future."

The G20 summit will take place in Bali on November 15-16, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be among the top leaders attending it.

Yellen, meanwhile, said the US was eager to discuss shared priorities as India assumes G20 Presidency. "We hope the mutual understanding we build will help us work together to advance our shared goals, including navigating the existential risks of climate change evolving multi-lateral institutions and addressing the dead burdens faced by the developing countries," she said.

She pitched for more friend-shoring opportunities to diversify away from countries with geopolitical and security risks to the supply chain.

"For too long, countries around the world have been overly dependent on risky countries or a single source for critical inputs... Indeed, our collaboration in this forum can not only promote each of our country's growth and stability, but it can also be instrumental to supporting economic prosperity across the Indo-Pacific region," she said.

Yellen said the US is committed to strengthening its bilateral economic relationship with India and hopes "we can be open, frank and productive".

Later, at the India US Business and Economic Opportunities Session Event, the Finance Minister later said that an exciting opportunity awaits US investors in the form of India’s maiden International Financial Centre — GIFT-IFSC.

On the Indian technology industry in the US, she said that she is happy to note it has  played a significant role in expanding the talent pool outside of traditional tech hub states. "This has contributed to some of these states, such as North Carolina, becoming emergent tech hubs," she said.

The Finance Minister said the Indian tech industry directly and by supporting the US client base supported close to 1.6 million jobs and contributed $198 billion to the US economy.

Talking about the bilateral defence trade between India and US, she said it has reached more than $20 billion from near-zero about 12 years ago. "As our defence partnership evolves our defence industry welcomes opportunities for collaboration, especially to innovate, co-develop, and co-produce for India and the world," she said.