United States President Joe Biden is looking forward to reaching India in September this year for the G20 Leaders Summit, the White House said on Saturday, April 22 and also thanked India for its 'tremendous' work at hosting the G20 Foreign Ministerial meeting last month. The US government affirmed that 2023 is going to be a “big year" for the India-US relationship.
"This is gonna be a big year. India is, of course, hosting the G-20. The United States is hosting APEC this year. The G7 is being held in Japan. Many of our QUAD members are assuming leadership positions. It will offer us all oporotunites to improve relations between our nations, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Donald Lu told news agency PTI. The US official continued by saying that India's G20 leadership has increased its ability to act as a positive force in the world.
The G-20 Foreign Ministerial meeting was hosted by India last month, and Lu remarked, "We are really grateful for the tremendous work that India has done. We look forward to actively participating in the many future G-20 meetings coming up this year, including the New Delhi Leaders Summit in September."
"I am aware that our President is eager to visit India in September. He'll be visiting India for the first time as part of the G-20 Leaders Summit. We're very thrilled about what the upcoming few months hold," he declared. "This new year has only been going for a little over three months. And a lot of pretty fantastic things have happened," he said.
Senior members of the US administration have previously visited India and participated in the India-US Forum in Delhi, including Secretary of State Tony Blinken, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, and Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo.
India has been at the forefront of promoting a positive agenda for the G20 due to its role as the G20 presidency.
Donald Lu commended Dr. S. Jaishankar, the Union Minister for External Affairs, for his interaction with the QUAD forum participants during the open forums at the Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi.
"In March, Dr. Jaishankar hosted his QUAD counterparts at the Raisina Dialogue with all four foreign ministers present for a ministerial discussion and spectacular public events. It was the first such open meeting with QUAD foreign ministers, and it highlighted the cooperation between our four nations in support of the Indo-Pacific region, he said.
And last, this month saw the arrival of Eric Garcetti, our new ambassador. He has already been welcomed with open arms by our American and Indian colleagues at the US Embassy. He is looking forward to meeting with the rest of India once he has presented his credentials, and I believe India will discover that he is young, he is passionate, and he is willing to take our relations to new heights," Mr. Lu added.
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