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Jaishankar, Guterres discuss Covid-19 vaccines, Afghanistan
They discussed that the proposal by India and South Africa for TRIPS waiver of Covid-19 vaccine patents can also contribute to greater production and more equity.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has stressed the need for finding “urgent and effective” global vaccine solutions and called for “greater production” and “fairer distribution” in his meeting with UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres.
At their first in-person meeting on Tuesday since India began its eighth term as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in January, the two leaders also discussed a full range of subjects including climate change, counterterrorism, developments in India’s neighbourhood and underscored the need to adequately protect the “gains” of the last two decades in Afghanistan in the context of US withdrawal of troops.
“Discussed the Covid challenge, underlining the importance of finding urgent & effective global vaccine solutions,” Jaishankar wrote on Twitter after the meeting, which was held at the United Nations in New York. “Critical to ramp up the vaccine supply chain to ensure greater production & fairer distribution.”
They discussed that the proposal by India and South Africa for TRIPS waiver of Covid-19 vaccine patents can also contribute to greater production and more equity, said a readout of their conversation issued by India. The United States recently announced support for the proposal paving the way for negotiations to start towards adopting a text to that effect.
Jaishankar also expressed appreciation of Guterres’s leadership of the United Nations “especially in these challenging times”; and conveyed to him India’s support for a second term. A former Portuguese prime minister, Guterres was elected secretary-general in 2016 and is seeking a second term calling himself a “bridge-builder and an honest broker”.
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said the two leaders had a “very good discussion” and “discussed Covid-19, the issue of vaccines, and also a number of other peace and security issues in general”.
Jaishankar is on a five-day tour of the United States, with two days in New York and the last two in Washington DC where he is expected to meet secretary of state Antony Blinken, national security adviser Jake Sullivan and other officials for a wide range of discussions, including on Covid-19, increasing cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region and the Quad.
At the UN meeting, the two leaders exchanged views on climate action, and minister Jaishankar said, “Greater resources are essential for larger ambitions. Financing will determine our seriousness and credibility.”
India has called for increased financing to help developing countries meet their mitigation targets.
The two leaders “agreed that greater ambitions required more resources and greater commitment from the developed world”, said the readout.
Jaishankar also highlighted India “constructive role” at the UN Security Council and conveyed priorities for India’s presidency of the body for August, which will include “high-level events on maritime security and on technology and peacekeeping”.
About “regional challenges” in India’s neighbourhood, the minister shared “concerns about ensuring that the gains of the last two decades in Afghanistan are adequately protected”. President Joe Biden has said all US troops will leave Afghanistan before September 11, the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks that brought US-led international forces to the country in search of Al-Qaeda leaders and operatives.
He added that countering terrorism and radicalisation “remain priorities for the entire region”.
The two leaders also discussed recent developments in Myanmar.
