Yellen to Attend India G20 Summit, Focus on Economy, Climate, Ukraine -US Treasury

By David Lawder

13:11 JST, September 1, 2023

WASHINGTON, Aug 31 (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will travel to New Delhi to participate in the G20 leaders summit from Sept. 7-10, making her fourth visit to India in 10 months, the Treasury Department said on Thursday.

Yellen intends to focus at the summit on strengthening the global economy and supporting low- and middle-income countries by advancing efforts on debt restructurings, the evolution of multilateral development banks (MDBs) and building International Monetary Fund trust fund resources, the Treasury said.

She will “continue to build momentum” for her drive to evolve the World Bank and other multilateral lenders to boost financing capacity to aid developing countries’ clean energy transitions, tackle pandemics, fragility and conflict, it said.

The Treasury estimates that the lenders collectively can unlock $200 billion in new financing over a decade with balance sheet measures now being implemented or under discussion.

The Treasury said Yellen also will rally America’s G20 allies to maintain economic support for Ukraine and increase costs on Russia over Moscow’s continuing war in Ukraine. This includes supporting the G7-led price cap on Russian oil exports and efforts to strengthen global food security in the face of restrictions on Ukrainian grain exports.

At the same time, the Treasury said Yellen will work to deepen U.S. bilateral ties with India, a country she first described last November as a prime “friend-shoring” destination and alternative to China for U.S. investment and supply chains.

Treasury’s statement did not mention specific bilateral meetings.

On the sidelines of last year’s G20 Summit in Indonesia, Yellen met with the People’s Bank of China’s then-governor Yi Gang in first of several face-to-face meetings with senior Chinese officials in recent months to ease rocky U.S.-China ties, culminating in her visit to Beijing in July.