(This will be Joe Biden's first visit to India as President. He was here last in 2013 as Vice-President to Barack Obama)
Amid an attempt being at certain quarters to call G20 New Delhi Summit on Sept 9 and 10 as a 'failed' meet, it is now clear US President Joe Biden will focus on "fundamentally reshaping and scaling up the multilateral development banks" during the mega event.
Biden's other priorities for the Summit will include debt relief for countries, climate, health, digital technology, including commitments with respect to a more inclusive digital transformation and a responsible approach to Artificial intelligence development, reports say.
The US President's plans have not changed because of wife, First Lady Jill Biden, testing positive for Covid-19. He has tested negative.
However, due to possible exposure to the virus he will be undertaking the usual precautions mandated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), such as wearing masks in public places and around people.
Biden and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a bilateral meeting on Friday and then the US President will attend G20 meetings on Saturday and Sunday. This will be Biden's first visit to India as President. He went here in 2013 as Vice-President.
'Russia's invasion of Ukraine will also be on the table'
"We know that there'll be continued focus on how the G20 deals with Russia's illegal and ongoing war in Ukraine. The reality is that Russia's illegal war has had devastating social and economic consequences. And the poorest countries on the planet are bearing the brunt of that," National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said.
He stated: "As he has done before, President Biden will call for a just and durable peace, one founded in respect for international law, principles of the UN Charter, the precepts of territorial integrity and sovereignty, and he will continue to emphasise that the US will support Ukraine for as long as it takes to redeem these principles".
"Delivering on an agenda fundamentally reshaping and scaling up the multilateral development bank's, especially the World Bank and the IMF (the International Monetary Fund)" will be one of the main focuses of the US President, Sullivan said.
He maintained: "We know that these institutions are some of the most effective tools that we have for mobilising transparent, high quality investment into developing countries. And that's why the US is championing the major effort that is currently underway to evolve these institutions so that they are up to the challenges of today and tomorrow."
Pointing to expanded US funding of the World Bank by $25 billion, per a request to US Congress from the Biden administration, the US National Security Adviser said the US expects other partner countries to follow its lead.
"We've been leading this effort that we hope will see the G20 endorsed this level of ambition and deliver a broader vision of multilateral development banks that are better, bigger and more effective."
Supreme Court agrees to hear plea filed by 'Editors Guild of India' members against Manipur Police FIR
The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear the writ petition filed by the president and three editors of the Editors Guild of India (EGI) challenging the FIR lodged by Manipur Police for releasing an alleged "biased and factually inaccurate" report on Manipur ethnic conflict.
The FIR was registered against the president of the EGI, and three editors -- Seema Guha, Bharat Bhushan and Sanjay Kapoor. The four had visited Manipur last month to study the media reportage of the ethnic violence and the circumstantial aspects.
The EGI report accused Manipur media of writing "one-sided reports" to create a narrative in favour of the Meiteis and listed several news articles.
Earlier Chief Minister N Biren Singh said:
“I also am giving a warning to the Editors Guild members: if you want to do something, please come to the spot, please do visit there, see the ground reality, meet the representatives of all communities, all victims and then you publish what you have found.
Otherwise, meeting some people, sections of the people and coming to a conclusion, is disservice -- that is highly condemnable. That is why the state government has filed an FIR against the members of the Editors Guild who are trying to create more clashes in the state of Manipur...".
Meanwhile, Congress parliamentary party chief Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday, Sept 6, wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to discuss 'nine issues' during the upcoming special Parliament session later this month including on the prevailing economic situation and recent revelations on the Adani group.
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