Biden will not only call for durable peace in Ukraine, but also focus on other G20 agenda

The G20 summit in New Delhi will see United States President Joe Biden not only calling for an end to the Russia-Ukraine conflict in “a just and durable peace” but also focussing on the other issues on the agenda, including reshaping and scaling up the multilateral development banks and debt restructuring.

Biden is scheduled to arrive in New Delhi on Friday to attend the G20 summit, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi will host on Saturday and Sunday. “One of our main goals heading into the G20 is to help reshape and scale up multilateral development banks like the IMF, like the World Bank,” John Kirby, the coordinator for strategic communication of the US National Security Council, told journalists in Washington DC.

“We know that these institutions are some of the most effective tools for mobilising transparent and high-quality investment in developing countries. And that’s why the United States has championed the major effort that is currently underway to evolve these institutions so that they’re up for the challenges of tomorrow,” he said.

The G20 has been discussing ways to evolve the multilateral development banks so that they have the right vision, incentives, operational models and financing capacity to address critical global priorities like combatting climate change, addressing pandemics and global health security, and tackling fragility and conflict.

The US government estimated that the MDBs as a system could unlock $200 billion over the next decade just from the measures already being implemented or under deliberation as part of this process. They could do even more if they undertook some of the longer-term and more complex recommendations in the “G20 Capital Adequacy Framework report, including on callable capital”, the US Department of Treasury stated recently.  

Biden’s Secretary of the Treasury, Janet Yellen, will also accompany him at the G20 summit.

The US president will also be calling on the G20 members to provide meaningful debt relief so that low and middle-income countries can regain their footing after years of stress on their economies and their people, said Kirby.

“We’ll also be making progress on other key priorities, from climate to health, and as I said at the very top, digital technology. In addition, we’ll spotlight the progress that we've been making on the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment that the President calls PGII,” he said.

He, however, also added that the G20 summit in New Delhi would also see continued focus on “Russia’s illegal and ongoing war in Ukraine”.

“The reality is that Russia’s war has already had devastating social, and economic consequences, and the poorest countries on the planet are bearing the brunt of that,” he said.

Biden will call for a just and durable peace – one founded in respect for international law, the principles of the UN Charter, and the precepts of territorial integrity and national sovereignty, he said. “We will also continue to emphasise that the US will support Ukraine for as long as it takes to redeem these principles,” added the White House official.