On Friday, US Vice President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi exuded confidence that the outcomes of the G20 Summit will advance their respective countries’ common objectives of fostering multilateral cooperation, accelerating sustainable development, and forging agreement on inclusive economic policies to address the world’s most pressing issues.
President Biden reiterated his support for a reformed UN Security Council with India as a permanent member, continuing to share the belief that global governance must be more inclusive and representative, according to the joint statement.
Modi and Biden welcomed progress in India’s acquisition of 31 drones and the cooperative development of jet engines during their more than 50-minute talks, promising to “deepen and diversify” the bilateral major defense collaboration.
The two leaders also discussed how to substantially “reshape” multilateral development banks, nuclear energy cooperation, and important and developing technologies like 6G and artificial intelligence.
President Biden praised India’s G20 Presidency for further “demonstrating” how the G20 as a forum is producing significant results, according to a joint statement released at the conclusion of the discussions.
His remarks came a day before the leaders of the Group of 20 major countries met in New Delhi for their annual summit to discuss the most important issues facing the world today and how to address them.
At around 7 o’clock on Friday evening, Biden touched down in Delhi for the first time as the US President. At the airport, he was welcomed by musical performances and songs.
The joint statement said, “We will advance the shared goals of accelerating sustainable development, bolstering multilateral cooperation, and building global consensus around inclusive economic policies to address our greatest common challenges, including fundamentally reshaping and scaling up multilateral development banks.” The leaders reaffirmed their commitment to the G20 and expressed confidence in the outcomes.