G20 Extremely Effective Under India’s Leadership, Tackled Important Challenges: Yellen

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that the US will advance its relationship with India at the G20 Summit and increase collaboration in aiding global agriculture and food security.

“We hope to move forward our efforts such as supporting the global agriculture and food security program. Continuing to advance the US-India relationship will be a priority this week. We highly value our bilateral relationship with India. The United States is the home to the largest Indian diaspora outside Asia and is India’s largest export market,” Yellen said.

Yellen also said that the US is carefully monitoring the Chinese economy amid reports of a slowdown in the world’s second largest economy and the effects it will have on global growth.

“China faces a variety of both short and longer term global challenges, economic challenges that we’ve been monitoring carefully,” Yellen said. She also highlighted that China’s “labour force is beginning to shrink”.

“(China challenges are) less of a pick up in consumer spending that had been anticipated in the aftermath of the Covid restrictions, as well as long standing issues with respect to the property sector and… debt related to that,” she further added.

With Xi Jinping, the Chinese President, not attending the G20 Summit, US’ bid to keep the G20 the main forum of global economic cooperation will be impacted. “It is important to emphasise that the G20 is a prime solution to the global challenges. We see it as a premier organisation on a global basis that is taking on critical challenges facing the global economy and particularly the global South,” Yellen said.

She also highlighted that despite global issues the G20 “has been extremely effective, especially under India’s leadership”.

“Our goals for the G20 have coincided closely with those of India. We have tackled very important challenges. I think we have had considerable success in changing the way the entire multilateral development system is operating,” Yellen further added.

Yellen criticised Russia for its role in the 2022 Russo-Ukrainian War and said that if Russia halts the war it would be beneficial for global economy and spur global growth.