President of the United States Joe Biden will be attending the G20 summit on September 9-10 as he has tested negative for Covid-19 again, the White House confirmed. The US President will travel to India on Thursday for the summit and will have a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, top US officials said.
“On Thursday, the President will travel to New Delhi to attend the G20 leader’s summit. On Friday, President Biden will participate in a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Modi” and on Saturday and Sunday, he will participate in the official sessions of the G20 summit, US National Security Advisor (NSA) Jake Sullivan told reporters at a White House news conference.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre added that during his visit to India, President Biden will follow the Covid-19 guidelines of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“He [Biden] is not experiencing any symptoms as far as the steps that he is taking since the President was with the First Lady yesterday. He will be masking while indoors and around people in alignment with CDC guidance,” Jean-Pierre said.
Speaking to reporters who asked Biden whether he was looking forward to his visits to India, the US President said, “Yes, I am”.
According to NSA Jake Sullivan, as Biden heads to the G20 summit, “he is committed to working with emerging market partners to deliver big things together.”
“That’s what we believe the world will see in New Delhi this weekend. The United States’ commitment to the G-20 hasn’t wavered and we hope this G-20 summit will show that the world’s major economies can work together even in challenging times,” Sullivan said.
The focus of the US in the G20 summit “is going to be on delivering for developing countries, making progress on key priorities for the American people, from climate to technology and showing our commitment to the G20 as a forum that can actually deliver”, he added.
President Biden will also be calling on G20 members as leaders in the global economy to provide meaningful debt relief so that low and middle income countries can regain their footing after years of extreme stress, Sullivan said.
India is hosting the annual summit of the G20 Summit in New Delhi on September 9 and 10. Member countries of the influential grouping represent around 85 per cent of the global GDP, over 75 per cent of the global trade, and about two-thirds of the world population
