Ajay Banga, the US nominee for the post of World Bank President, has been found infected with the corona virus in Delhi and his scheduled meetings during his two-day visit to India have been cancelled.
According to a Finance Ministry statement, Banga will not meet Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as she is in isolation. Earlier in Washington, the US Treasury Department had said, “Ajay Banga has been found infected with the corona virus during routine testing but he has no symptoms of the disease. He is in self-isolation following local guidelines.” Banga’s visit to New Delhi (March 23 and 24) is the last stop of his world tour.
He started his journey from Africa after which he reached Asia via Europe, Latin America. During his visit to India, 63-year-old Banga was scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.
India has supported his candidature for the post of President of the World Bank. The department said in a statement on Wednesday that his “discussions with Indian leaders will focus on India’s development priorities, the World Bank and challenges to global economic growth”.
