Ending Russia's invasion of Ukraine critical to address food crisis, high energy prices: US' Deputy Secretary

New Delhi: The Deputy Secretary of US Treasury, Wally Adeyemo, spoke with Indian policymakers on how to work together to address global issues like food shortages and high energy costs, stressing the importance of ending Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Adeyemo held meetings on Friday with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Principal Secretary to the prime minister PK Mishra, Finance Secretary Ajay Seth, Foreign Secretary Vijay Kwatra and Petroleum Secretary Pankaj Jain. The US official’s visit to India from 24 to 26 August came amid rising disquiet among Western powers over New Delhi’s increasing procurement of crude oil from Russia. A readout by the US Department of Treasury said Adeyemo shared with his counterparts the United States’ views on ways to “put downward pressure” on energy prices for consumers and businesses in India, the US, and globally. It said that he also underscored the importance of further deepening the already strong US-India relationship, including through platforms like the Quad and the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework. “Deputy Secretary Adeyemo stressed that we can maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific that delivers greater prosperity for our citizens through those efforts, including through steps to bolster supply chain resiliency between trusted partners like the United States and India,” the readout, released by the US Embassy here, said. The US launched the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) in May to expand cooperation among like-minded countries in areas like clean energy, supply-chain resilience and digital trade. “The Deputy Secretary also discussed ways that the United States and India could work together to address shared global challenges like food insecurity and high energy prices. The Deputy Secretary raised that ending Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was critical to addressing these issues,” the readout said. It said Adeyemo reiterated the importance of “well supplied global energy markets, even as we work together with partners like India to expand access to sources of renewable energy that will reduce our dependence on fossil fuels over time.” With oil prices surging past the USD 100/barrel mark, the US along with other G7 nations is looking at imposing some sort of price cap on Russian oil. Adeyemo told media on Friday that energy and food grain trade by Russia has been kept out of sanctions and nations like India were free to enter into deals using any currency, including local currency. Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.