India and US to enhance ties on climate, finance
NEW DELHI: India and the US have agreed to step up cooperation on a host of economic issues, including climate change and infrastructure finance, financial regulation and tackling financial crimes.
This was decided upon when finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and US treasury secretary Janet Yellen met in Washington for the eighth Us-india economic and financial partnership on Friday, according to a joint statement.
The meeting underscored the growing importance of the Us-india relationship and their expanding economic and financial ties, the statement said, adding that both sides will continue to work towards further strengthening of bilateral ties.
“As India prepares for its 2023 G20 presidency, the US stands ready to support India in hosting a successful and productive year,” according to the statement.
The meeting reviewed the macroeconomic outlook and recovery from the pandemic, financial regulatory and technical collaboration, multilateral engagement, climate finance and efforts to check money laundering and financing of terrorism.
The two ministers focused on climate finance, given the need for reducing global emissions. They also agreed that public finance, when paired with enabling policies, can promote private finance.
“We reaffirmed the collective developed country goal to mobilize $100 billion annually for developing countries from public and private sources, in the context of meaningful mitigation actions and transparency on implementation,” the statement said.
The statement also emphasized on the commitment from both sides to work closely in this area.
Both sides also affirmed their commitment to debt sustainability and transparency in bilateral lending. “We acknowledged the importance of working through multilateral development banks to help India access and mobilize available financing to support development objectives, including for climate,” according to the statement.
Both sides also welcomed global efforts to evolve a new taxation framework “that is more stable, fairer and fit for purpose for the 21st century”. The statement called an 8 October political agreement of the OECD/G20 framework as a significant accomplishment for updating the international tax architecture to reflect the modern economy.
“We should work together and with other partners at the technical level in order to expeditiously implement Pillars 1 and 2 by 2023,” the statement said.
The two-pillar solution refers to a global minimum tax to discourage the race among nations to lower tax rates and reallocation of taxation rights over tech giants to the benefit of countries like India where such companies have consumers.