New Delhi

Washington and New Delhi are working to strengthen their supply chains in order to reduce dependency on “risky countries”, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a veiled reference to China and Russia. Yellen, who is on her maiden visit to India, made these remarks on Friday at an event at Microsoft Inc's facility just outside the national capital Delhi. 

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While introducing the concept of ‘friendshoring', she called on like-minded countries to deepen trade and investments within a group of countries with shared values. 

Under this 'friendshoring' approach, the US is diversifying away from countries that present geopolitical and security risks to our supply chain, Yellen said. 

"For too long, countries around the world have been overly dependent on risky countries or a single source for critical inputs," she said.  

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US Treasury Secretary in India: Janet Yellen speaks on US, India economic relations

"We are proactively deepening economic integration with trusted trading partners like India," she said.

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Yellen termed US and India as "natural allies”, saying that both lead by example to show that democracies can deliver for their citizens despite volatility and war. 

“Our strategy will also create redundancies in our supply chain to mitigate over-concentration risks. And we are also addressing our reliance on manufacturers whose approaches clash with our human rights values," she said. 

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The US official blasted Russian President Vladimir Putin for  â€œweaponising” gas supply to Europe in the wake of his invasion of Ukraine. 

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"Recent disruptions have contributed to higher prices in both of our countries and sapped economic output," she said while referring to energy and commodity prices spiking up in the aftermath of Ukraine invasion. 

She said that it serves as “an example of how malicious actors can use their market positions to try to gain geopolitical leverage or disrupt trade for their own gain." 

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