US Treasury Secretary Yellen pushes for India’s inclusion in ‘friendshoring’ strategy

US Treasury Secretary Janet L Yellen on Saturday pushed for India to be included in its "friendshoring" strategy to diversify trade away from countries that are present at geopolitical risk and bolster the resilience of supply chains.

Calling India an indispensable partner to the United States, the US official pointed out the strong relations enjoyed by New Delhi and Washington.

"The US is India's biggest trading partner,” Yellen said while addressing a roundtable with US and Indian tech business leaders on the sidelines of G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting in southern Bengaluru city, reports PTI news agency.

“In 2021, our bilateral trade was over USD 150 billion. Our people-to-people ties affirm the closeness of our relationship. 200,000 Indians are studying in America and enriching our schools and universities. We depend on each other on a daily basis: Indians use WhatsApp to communicate and many American companies rely on Infosys to operate," she said.

Yellen said that under the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment ( PGII), the US is investing in digital technologies that will drive inclusive, resilient growth in India.

Nirmala Sitharaman meets USTreasury Secretary Yellen ahead of Bengaluru G20 meet

Under PGII initiative, the United States has announced investments in agri-tech to enable climate-smart agricultural production, and in digital payments systems for microentrepreneurs, she said.

"As we look towards the future, I am eager to deepen our ties in the technology sector. The United States is advancing an approach called "friendshoring" to bolster the resilience of our supply chains. We are doing this by strengthening integration with our many trusted trading partners – including India. We are seeing progress; as an example, technology companies like Apple and Google have expanded their phone production in India," she said.

The roundtable was attended by top tech industrialists, including Infosys chairman Nandan Nilekani, IBM India managing director Sandip Patel, Intel India country head Nivruti Rai, Foxconn India Country Head Josh Foulger and Wipro chairman Rishad Premji.

Under 'friendshoring', also known as 'allyshoring',a country sources the raw materials, components and even manufactured goods from countries which share its values.In effect, the dependence on the countries considered a "threat" to the stability of the supply chains is slowly reduced.

(With inputs from agencies)

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