G20 presidency: US to support on energy, food issues

THE US will support India's G20 presidency including on issues such as food and energy security, the US embassy said on Tuesday (7), as New Delhi seeks the backing of its partners ahead of key meetings starting this month.

The presidency has attracted particular interest given India's close ties with both the United States and Russia, from which it has significantly increased imports of oil since the war in Ukraine began nearly a year ago.

Officials from the US, Europe and China are expected to head to India in late February and early March for meetings of finance and foreign ministers. The summit of heads of government is scheduled for September.

‘We support India on a range of issues, including addressing current food and energy security challenges and continuing our efforts to build a resilient global economy,' a spokesperson for the US embassy in New Delhi said in a statement.

‘We are also working with India in the G20 to continue to support women's economic empowerment. We look forward to deepening our bilateral partnership with India on a range of important regional and global issues in the year ahead.'

Russia became the third-largest oil supplier to India in 2022, making up about 15 percent of its total purchases, from less than 2 percent before the war.

India has largely kept its trade and defence ties with Russia despite initial calls from the US and other

Western nations against it after the invasion of Ukraine.

Meanwhile, India wants to see international cooperation on debt relief at the forefront of discussions at a meeting of G20 finance officials later this month, India's finance ministry said.

India, which in December took on the presidency of the G20, will urge its fellow members to work for progress on the issue, its finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, said in a video call with IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva.

The Group of 20 major developed and developing economies in late 2020 launched the Common Framework - a mechanism to provide a swift and comprehensive debt overhaul to countries facing debt burdens, especially after the shock of Covid-19, that would reach beyond temporary debt payment moratoriums.