• Samantha Power will visit India next week for talks on global food shortages.
• The visit comes as New Delhi’s policies on Ukraine put its emerging partnership with Washington to the test.
• India sought to protect domestic supply by banning exports of wheat grain, sparking a record surge in global prices.

The United States aid chief will visit India next week for talks on global food shortages, according to her agency, as New Delhi’s policies on the Ukraine war put its emerging partnership with Washington to the test.

Samantha Power, administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, will visit India from Monday to Wednesday to “discuss the global food security crisis,” according to a statement from USAID.

Power, who will meet with officials, civil society and experts, will show “US commitment to partnering with India, the world’s largest democracy, as a global development leader in addressing some of the world’s most pressing development challenges,” it said.

US-India relations have grown close in recent decades, with shared concerns on a rising China and the threat of Islamist extremism.

But India has steered clear of criticizing its historic defense partner Russia over its invasion of Ukraine and has sought to buy Russian oil at a discount despite Western attempts to choke off funds for Moscow.

After Russia blockaded ports in Ukraine, a major grain exporter, India in May sought to protect domestic supply by banning exports of wheat grain, sparking a record surge in global prices.

In a speech earlier this week, Power did not criticize India explicitly but called on countries “unwilling to criticize the Russian government’s belligerence” to end their export bans on food.

Power will travel to India from the Horn of Africa, where there have been reports of children dying of malnutrition as a result of droughts exacerbated by climate change.

Ukraine and Russia signed a deal to unblock grain exports in Turkey on Friday, raising hopes of easing the global food crisis.

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