Current Affairs 2021: Highlights of 8th Indo-US Economic and Financial Partnership Dialogue

By Ankita Rawat

Read here the highlights of the Indo-US Economic and Financial Partnership Dialogue.

The Indo-US Economic and Financial Partnership Dialogue was held in Washington DC on October 15, 2021. The 8^th Ministerial Meeting was chaired by Union Minister of Finance & Corporate  Affairs, Nirmala Sitharaman with Secretary of the Treasury of the United States Dr Janet Yellen. During the ministerial meeting, both sides discussed a variety of subjects including recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, macroeconomic outlook, multilateral engagement, financial regulatory and technical collaboration, climate finance, combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT), and anti-money laundering.

Both sides acknowledged their commitments to continue collaboration at multilateral and bilateral fora with the purpose of mutual and global economic issues and work towards friendly solutions and strategies. The meeting was concluded by adopting the Joint Statement by both the ministers. The 8th India-US EFP serves as a framework to strengthen the economic bonds between two vibrant democracies and establish a foundation for greater cooperation and economic growth in the future.

Joint Statement on the Eighth U.S.-India Economic and Financial Partnership

After the outburst of the COVID 19 pandemic, both nations reiterated that productive and regular dialogue on economic policies is important to the Indo-US relationship and to achieve a shared global future. As the COVID-19 crisis has impacted several lives, they addressed the importance of maintaining favourable & supportive policies until a robust and overall recovery is firmly engrained.

The first session was dedicated to climate finance, both sides reflected their respective commitments to drive instant progress in controlling climate change and shared viewpoints on re-energizing global initiatives to boost climate ambition along with respective domestic efforts to fulfil publicly stated climate goals. Public finance paired with enabling policies that can promote private finance approved that collectively developed countries aim to channelize $100 billion per annum for developing countries from private and public sources, in terms of useful mitigation actions and full transparency on execution. 

Both nations reaffirmed their commitment to the central role of multilateral cooperation in tackling global challenges and both sides stated their commitment to transparency and debt sustainability in bilateral lending. Both sides accepted the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework political agreement on 8th October as representing a momentous achievement for upgrading the international tax architecture to show the modern economy and develop an international tax system that will be more stable & fit for all the purposes for 21st century.

Under the Inter-Government Agreement according to the (FATCA) Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act. Both sides look forward to the ongoing collaboration for developed cooperation in sharing information for handling offshore tax evasion. Both nations planning on engaging these and other global economic issues both bilaterally and multilaterally. US and India looking forward to maintaining collaboration to support global recovery under the G20 Presidency of Indonesia in the upcoming year. The United States will provide needful support to India for hosting a successful and productive year.