US President Joe Biden will arrive in India on Friday evening and will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the same day for a bilateral meeting. The President will depart the US on Thursday, after which he will arrive at Ramstein in Germany for a brief stopover before flying to New Delhi.
"He (Biden) leaves tomorrow, and he's very excited about the important initiatives that he will be championing at the G20," White House National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communication John Kirby told reporters at a news conference organised by Washington Foreign Press Center.
On topics to be covered in the bilateral, the White House said the leaders will discuss the G20 agenda, especially the economic cooperation and multilateral investment opportunities.
However, National Security Council (NSC) coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby said it was unlikely that PM Modi and Joe Biden will discuss the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. "Well, without getting too far ahead of the meeting that hasn’t happened, it’s certainly going to be an appropriate follow-on to their very robust bilateral discussions here when we had – when we hosted Prime Minister Modi at the White House not long ago for a very complete and official visit."
"I have little doubt that they will also talk about the shared challenge of climate change and how much we are hoping to have a robust discussion at the G20 about a transition to clean energy technology and to see more countries, more G20 countries, invest in more clean energy technology as well as efforts to curb greenhouse gases,” he added.
He added that he was "doubtful that they would discuss the ongoing war in Ukraine and the deleterious effect that it's having on low- and middle-income countries. The topics, however, will cover security, economic, and diplomatic challenges throughout the Indo-Pacific.
However, the discussions at the G20 will focus on Russia's illegal and ongoing war in Ukraine. The White House 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." "We will also continue to emphasise that the United States will support Ukraine for as long as it takes to redeem these principles," he said.
In G20
Kirby added that one of President Biden's main goals heading into the G20 is to help reshape and scale up multilateral development banks like the IMF and the World Bank. "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.
Biden will also be calling on 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.
"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.