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

US Deputy Secretary of Treasury Wally eyemo discussed with Indian policymakers ways to jointly deal with global challenges like food insecurity and high energy prices, asserting that ending Russia's invasion of Ukraine was critical to dress se issues. eyemo held meetings on Friday with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Principal Secretary to prime minister PK Mishra, Finance Secretary Ajay Seth, Foreign Secretary Vijay Kwatra and Petroleum Secretary Pankaj Jain.

US official's visit to India from August 24 to 26 came amid rising disquiet among Western powers over New Deli's increasing procurement of crude oil from Russia.

A reout by US Department of Treasury said eyemo shared with his counterparts United States' views on ways to "put downward pressure" on energy prices for consumers and businesses in India, US, and globally.

It said he also underscored importance of furr deepening alrey strong US-India relationship, including through platforms like Qu and Indo-Pacific Economic Framework.

"Deputy Secretary eyemo 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 United States and India," reout, released by US Embassy here, said.

US launched 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 tre.

" Deputy Secretary also discussed ways that United States and India could work toger to dress shared global challenges like food insecurity and high energy prices. Deputy Secretary raised that ending Russia's invasion of Ukraine was critical to dressing se issues," reout said.

It said eyemo reiterated importance of "well supplied global energy markets, even as we work toger 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 USD 100/barrel mark, US along with or G7 nations is looking at imposing some sort of price cap on Russian oil.

eyemo told media on Friday that energy and foodgrain tre by Russia has been kept out of sanctions and nations like India were free to enter into deals using any currency, including local currency. PTI MPB TDS TDS