NEW DELHI: US President Joe Biden will arrive in Delhi on Friday evening and directly head for a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. PM Modi will also have two other bilateral meetings on Friday -- with Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Mauritius PM Pravind Jugnauth.
"President Biden is very excited about the important initiatives that he would be championing at the G20," said White House National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communication, John Kirby, ahead of the US President's departure for Delhi. The talks between Biden and Modi will be a follow-up to the discussions they had in June.
"One of the main goals of the US at the G20 would be to “help reshape and scale up multilateral development banks like the IMF, like the World Bank,” Kirby added.
Biden’s focus is going to be on delivering economic opportunity for developing countries, making progress on key priorities for the American people, from climate to technology, and showing US’ commitment to the G20 itself as a viable, if not vital, forum to tackle these issues.
"Of course, now, we’re grateful for PM Modi’s leadership during India’s presidency of the G20, and the President is certainly looking forward to his bilateral meeting with the Prime Minister shortly after his arrival in New Delhi. He’s also looking forward to warmly welcoming the African Union as a permanent member of the G20, the newest permanent member. And we believe that the African Union’s voice will make the G20 even stronger than it already is,” Kirby said.
Meanwhile, PM Modi's meeting with Sheikh Hasina will be of strategic importance as Bangladesh is an ally in India’s neighbourhood. The two leaders are likely to review issues like connectivity for trade and transport.
While many leaders including British PM Rishi Sunak and Australian PM Anthony Albanese are arriving on Friday, some will land on Saturday including French President Emmanuel Macron.
President Macron will have a bilateral meeting with PM Modi during the Summit and will subsequently leave for Dhaka. It is learnt that President Macron will have bilateral meetings with leaders of Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and Brazil too.
Amongst those who are already in Delhi are the Nigerian President and Mauritius PM.
All the eyes of the world will be on Delhi as a power-packed weekend awaits.