By S A H Rizvi
Bureau Chief
The Times Kuwait
New Delhi
With an eye to convince the splintered world that US remains a committed partner, President Joe Biden arrived in India on Friday for a two-day summit at a moment of division among the world’s leading economies.
President Biden left straight for bilateral talks with Prime Minister at his official residence. A PMO tweet says both leaders discussed bilateral issues
Modi who chairs the G20 summit held wide-ranging talks with US President Joe Biden to further economic and people-to-people bilateral linkages, asserting that the friendship between the two nations will continue to play a great role in furthering global good.
On his first visit to India as the US president, Biden arrived in the national capital on a three-day visit to primarily participate in the G20 Leaders’ Summit to be chaired by Prime Minister Modi.
In a post on X, Modi said, “Happy to have welcomed @POTUS @JoeBiden to 7, Lok Kalyan Marg. Our meeting was very productive.”
“We were able to discuss numerous topics which will further economic and people-to-people linkages between India and USA. The friendship between our nations will continue to play a great role in furthering global good,” he said.
The Prime Minister’s Office, in a post on X, said, “Their discussions include a wide range of issues and will further deepen the bond between India and the USA.”
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and US NSA Jake Sullivan were also present in the meeting from the US side while the Indian delegation included External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and NSA Ajit Doval.
Modi is scheduled to hold 15 bilateral meetings over the next two days when world leaders gather in the national capital for the Summit.
At the hand sight level, Biden’s advisers believe his activities on the global stage can help provide a contrast with Republicans.
In New Delhi, Biden is hoping to make the argument that the United States can act as a better partner for developing countries than China. He has an unexpected opening to make his case: Chinese President Xi Jinping is skipping this weekend’s summit, his first time missing a G20 since taking office in 2012.
While that is a lost opportunity in some ways – Biden and Xi met for hours at last year’s G20 in Bali – it also frees the stage for the US to make its argument for American partners
At a moment when the very fragile state of China’s economy is causing deep concern about global ripple effects, Biden hopes to use the relative strength of the American market to make his pitch.
He isn’t arriving empty handed. He comes armed with proposals to reform and step up investments in the World Bank, leveraging US funds to free up hundreds of billions of dollars in new grants and loans for the developing world.
The White House insists the steps are not about countering Beijing.
