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In meeting with UN chief, Jaishankar discusses the ‘Covid challenge’
Jaishankar’s meeting with Guterres in New York was the first major engagement of his five-day visit to the US.
Effective global vaccine solutions to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic and regional challenges in India’s neighbourhood, especially the situation in Afghanistan, figured prominently in a meeting between external affairs minister S Jaishankar and UN chief Antonio Guterres on Tuesday.
Jaishankar’s meeting with UN Secretary-General Guterres in New York was the first major engagement of his five-day visit to the US. Jaishankar is also set to meet his American counterpart Antony Blinken and other officials of the Biden administration to discuss ways to ramp up the availability of Covid-19 vaccines.
The foreign minister said in a string of tweets after the nearly hour-long meeting that he had highlighted to Guterres the importance of increased production and equitable distribution of vaccines, including the availability of raw materials needed to make the doses.
“Discussed the Covid challenge, underlining the importance of finding urgent & effective global vaccine solutions. Critical to ramp up the vaccine supply chain to ensure greater production & fairer distribution,” Jaishankar tweeted after what he characterised as a “warm and comprehensive” meeting with the UN chief.
The Indian government is currently focused on ways to boost access to vaccines and to increase their domestic production in the face of a growing domestic shortage of doses. Jaishankar’s interactions with his US interlocutors are expected to focus on ways to remove hurdles in critical supply chains for components needed to make the vaccines, including components and crucial equipment.
On the other hand, the UN’s health agency, the World Health Organization (WHO), is looking at ways to ramp up vaccine supplies to the COVAX facility to increase the distribution of doses to low and middle-income countries. The disruption of supplies from Serum Institute of India (SII), the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, has hit COVAX’s plans for supplying doses to dozens of countries.
The situation in Afghanistan following the US drawdown of forces also figured in the meeting between Jaishankar and Guterres. Concerns have grown in the global community about the fragile security situation in the war-torn country, with Australia announcing on Tuesday that it will close its embassy in Kabul from May 28 because of an “increasingly uncertain security environment”.
Jaishankar tweeted, “Deliberated on regional challenges in India’s neighbourhood. Shared our concerns about ensuring that the gains of the last two decades in Afghanistan are adequately protected.”
With reference to Afghanistan, he added, “Countering terrorism and radicalisation remain priorities for the entire region.”
Jaishankar tweeted that he and Guterres also discussed recent developments in Myanmar, where the elected government was removed in a military coup on February 1, and exchanged views on climate action. Jaishankar said greater resources were “essential for larger ambitions” for tackling climate change and financing “will determine our seriousness and credibility” to tackle the phenomenon.
The minister said he had highlighted India’s constructive role in UN Security Council and conveyed the priorities of India’s presidency of the body during August. “Maritime Security and Technology for Peacekeeping address the needs of the day,” he said.
Jaishankar also welcomed Guterres’ appreciation for India’s peacekeeping operations, including at Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Indian troops played a crucial role in evacuating civilians and UN personnel from North Kivu’s capital Goma after a volcano erupted in the Congo last week.
Jaishankar’s visit to the US marks the first trip to the country by a senior Indian leader since the Biden administration assumed office in January.
