Mrinalini Majumdar, Pune
On Monday, the two powerhouses of politics, India and the US, joined hands to commit to improving their bilateral ties. They entail finding alternative mechanisms, which in turn will fund and fulfill the requirements of renewable energy. This will occur alongside the persuasion of the G20 agenda, which involves the reinforcement of MDBs and synchronised methods that will take climate change into consideration.
A number of issues were discussed in a bilateral meeting that occurred between Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on the periphery of the G20 meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors. These included climate action, rising bankruptcy rates in low and middle-income countries, and digital infrastructure for the general population.
On behalf of India, Finance Minister Sitharaman released a statement saying, “Look forward to furthering… bilateral interests using development cooperation along with emerging investment opportunities by means of alternative Investment platforms spanning renewable energy.” Additionally, Janet Yellen released a statement too. In her statement, Yellen also stated that the US “looks forward to collaborating with India on an investment platform that will provide a lower cost of capital plus increased private investment that will accelerate India’s energy transition.”
The US Treasury Secretary additionally emphasised the importance of India and the US joining forces to push for greater ambition and tailored reforms to multilateral development banks’ (MDBs’) vision, incentive structures, operational approaches, and financial capacity in order to tackle global challenges more effectively. We anticipate that MDBs as a system might liberate USD 200 billion across the next decade solely through the measures that are now in place or being considered as a component of this process. “It additionally remains critical to address the bank’s urgent requirement to increase its subsidised lending capacity regarding global challenges and assist low-income countries with its ongoing efforts,” Yellen added.
The G20 finance ministers established an expert group on MDB improvement at their most recent meeting in March. The committee has presented its first report, which concentrates on MDBs’ expansion of vision, financial capabilities, and funding mechanisms. The second report, due in October, will go into great detail on methods for coordination among MDBs.
In 2022, bilateral commerce between the United States and India will approach USD 191 billion, almost double the amount from 2014. The two countries’ partnership includes a wide variety of economic concerns, including commercial and technical collaboration, supply chain strengthening, and promoting the sustainable energy transition.
According to Sitharaman, the bilateral meetings demonstrate India and the United States’ commitment to aggressively advancing the G20 agenda, including tackling major global challenges such as strengthening MDBs and implementing concerted climate action. “Bilateral trade involving our two countries attained a record-high level last year, and we anticipate it to continue to rise substantially more in the years that follow,” Yellen said.