The US deputy national security advisor for international economics Daleep Singh will arrive in New Delhi on Wednesday for a two-day official visit. Singh is the Biden administration’s key architect of sanctions imposed on Russia in the wake of the so-called ‘military operation’ in Ukraine.
Emily Horne, US national security council spokesperson, said that discussions will be held regarding enhancing economic relationships between both countries.
“On March 30th and 31st, Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economics Daleep Singh will be in New Delhi to continue our ongoing consultations with the Government of India, and advance a range of issues in the US-India economic relationship and strategic partnership,” Horne said in a statement.
The Build Back Better World and the development of an Indo-Pacific Economic Framework will also be on Singh’s agenda when he visits India to meet with officials. The focus will primarily lie on a free and open Indo-Pacific where Washington will require New Delhi’s help to contain China which is aligning next to Russia following Russia’s isolation from world forums owing to war in Ukraine.
Singh will also discuss means to mitigate the economic issues arising due to the war on Ukraine.
Ukraine is expected to feature prominently during the discussions. The visit can also be seen as a damage control move by the Washington political establishment after US president Joe Biden said that among Quad partners he found India’s commitment toward ending the war in Ukraine ‘shaky’.
His press secretary Jen Psaki also subtly criticised India’s plans to buy Russian crude and said that India should remind itself on ‘what side of history’ it wanted to be while reacting to the information.
The visit is also important because shortly after Singh’s departure Union minister of defence Rajnath Singh and Union minister for external affairs S Jaishankar will travel to Washington for two-plus-two ministerial dialogue with counterparts Lloyd Austin and Antony Blinken.
Earlier, US state department Victoria Nuland also visited India. Visits from Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi and scheduled visits of Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov and UK foreign secretary Elizabeth Truss in the backdrop of war on Ukraine also displays the international community’s reliance on India to help navigate the crisis.
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