UK delegation visits Serum institute, talks held on enhancing relationship

Elizabeth Truss is on a four-day visit to India for talks with Piyush Goyal towards an “enhanced trade partnership”. After concluding her visit to the facility at Pune, Truss tweeted that SII will also be producing 1.3 billion doses for the COVAX alliance to which UK has committed £548 million.

A delegation from the United Kingdom, led by secretary of state for international trade and president of the board of trade, Elizabeth Truss, visited the Serum Institute of India (SII) on Monday. Truss met the CEO of Serum Institute Adar Poonawala during the visit.

"It was an honour to have the Secretary of State for International Trade, UK, @trusslizand a delegation visit our headquarters@SerumInstIndia. We discussed how to further enhance the existing relationship between India and the UK on manufacturing and innovation in the healthcare space,” tweeted Poonawala.

Truss is on a four-day visit to India for talks with her counterpart Piyush Goyal towards an “enhanced trade partnership”.

Talking about the visit, the Member of Parliament from South West Norfolk had earlier told Livemint that SII will produce more than a billion doses of the UK developed Oxford vaccine, helping to save lives in the country and beyond.

“I am visiting the Serum Institute during my time in India, which is producing more than a billion doses of the UK-developed Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine. This will save lives across India and beyond its borders,” Truss had said.

After concluding her visit to the Pune facility, Truss tweeted that SII will also be producing 1.3 billion doses for the COVAX alliance. The UK has committed £548 million as aid to the alliance which aims to help distribute one billion doses of coronavirus vaccines to 92 developing countries in this year.

Truss emphasised on India and UK’s vaccine collaboration, adding that the ties between the two countries can only get stronger from here on. “From supplying each other with goods to collaborating over vaccines, our partnership can only get stronger from now on,” Truss said.