Modi, Biden review strategic ties in Bali INDIAN LEADER ALSO MEETS CHINA’S XI JINGPING AT G20 SUMMIT
INDIA’S prime minister Narendra Modi discussed global and regional developments in a meeting with US president Joe Biden last Tuesday at the Group of 20 (G20) summit in Indonesia, India’s foreign ministry said.
Modi and Biden “expressed satisfaction” about close cooperation between India and the United States in new groupings such as the Quad, which includes Australia and Japan, and the I2U2, which includes Israel and the United Arab Emirates. “They reviewed the continuing deepening of the India-US strategic partnership,” the foreign ministry said.
Later the White House said India played an essential role in negotiating the G20’s Bali Declaration that included Modi’s message on the RussiaUkraine
conflict that “today’s era must not be of war”.
The G20’s Bali Declaration last Wednesday acknowledged differences among members on the RussiaUkraine war, but stressed it was essential to adhere to international law
The group made it clear they were against the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons and sought “peaceful resolution of conflicts.”
“Today’s era must not be of war,” the declaration said, echoing the remark made by Modi during his bilateral meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin on the margins of the SCO summit in September.
Modi also exchanged courtesies with Chinese president Xi Jinping at the end of a G20 dinner, according to government sources. A video footage of the event aired by Indian news broadcasters showed the two leaders shaking hands and exchanging words in an informal setting, surrounded by other officials.
Relations between India and China have soured since border clashes between troops in June 2020 in the Galwan area of Ladakh region in the western Himalayas, in which at least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers were killed in hand-to-hand fighting. Modi and Xi came face-to-face previously at a summit of regional security group Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in Uzbekistan in September.
The two leaders have not held not held any bilateral meetings since the 2020 clashes. The Indian leader also met World Bank president David Malpass, and International Monetary Fund managing director Kristalina Georgieva, among other leaders, at the G20 summit on the Indonesian island of Bali.
India takes over the presidency of G20 in December. The G20 members are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the UK, the US and the European Union.
Collectively, the G20 accounts for 85 per cent of the global GDP, 75 per cent of international trade, and twothirds of the world population, making it the premier forum for international economic cooperation.