US Prez Joe Biden Hails India's G20 Presidency, Reaffirms Support For Permanent UNSC Seat

New Delhi: US President Joe Biden on Friday lauded India’s G20 presidency for further demonstrating how the grouping, as a forum, is delivering important outcomes. He and Prime Minister Narendra Modi reaffirmed their commitment to the G20 and expressed confidence that the outcomes of the G20 Leaders’ Summit in New Delhi will advance the shared goals of accelerating sustainable development, bolstering multilateral cooperation, and building global consensus around inclusive economic policies to address their greatest common challenges, including fundamentally reshaping and scaling up multilateral development banks, a joint statement issued after the bilateral meeting between the two leaders said.

Biden, who arrived in India on Friday evening to attend the G20 summit, which is scheduled to take place between September 9 and 10, along with Modi, reaffirmed the importance of the Quad in supporting a free, open, inclusive, and resilient Indo-Pacific. Modi looked forward to welcoming Biden to the next Quad Leaders’ Summit to be hosted by India in 2024, the statement said.

India welcomed the US decision to co-lead the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative Pillar on Trade Connectivity and Maritime Transport, further to the US decision to join IPOI in June 2023.

Continuing to share the view that global governance must be more inclusive and representative, Biden reaffirmed his support for a reformed UN Security Council with India as a permanent member, and, in this context, welcomed once again India’s candidature for the UNSC non-permanent seat in 2028-29.

The leaders once again underscored the need to strengthen and reform the multilateral system so it may better reflect contemporary realities and remain committed to a comprehensive UN reform agenda, including through expansion in permanent and non-permanent categories of membership of the UN Security Council.

Earlier Modi welcomed Biden to India, reaffirming the close and enduring partnership between India and the US. The leaders expressed their appreciation for the substantial progress underway to implement the ground breaking achievements of Prime Minister Modi’s "historic" June visit to Washington, the joint statement said.

The two leaders called on their governments to continue the work of transforming the India-US Strategic Partnership across all dimensions of their multifaceted global agenda, based on trust and mutual understanding.

"They re-emphasised that the shared values of freedom, democracy, human rights, inclusion, pluralism, and equal opportunities for all citizens are critical to the success our countries enjoy and that these values strengthen our relationship," the joint statement noted.