India will begin commercial shipments of Covid-19 vaccines to Brazil and Morocco on Friday, followed by Saudi Arabia and South Africa, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi tries to polish his credentials as an important global leader.
“There is a huge international demand for our vaccines,” Foreign Minister Harsh Shringla told Bloomberg TV in an interview. “We hope to see more global players cooperating with their Indian counterparts in the pharmaceutical and health care sectors. This is likely to go beyond the transfer of parts of supply chains to India. We look forward to seeing R&D collaborations, manufacturing and partnerships in this field. “
Foreign Minister Harsh Shringla discusses the distribution of the vaccine in India and ties to the new United States government, in an interview with Bloomberg’s Rishaad Salamat.
Large vaccine campaign begins in India despite safety concerns
The inoculations exported so far are manufactured by Serum Institute of India Ltd. – the world’s largest manufacturer of volume vaccines – which has partnered with AstraZeneca Plc to make at least one billion doses of your injection. Brazil has the third largest coronavirus epidemic in the world, behind India and the United States and made a late start of his vaccination campaign, lagging behind his Latin American peers, including Mexico and Argentina.
Supply networks
India hopes to house global drug supply chains and will work with President Joe Biden’s administration to build commercial and security ties, Shringla said.
Last year, Modi promised that India’s vaccine delivery and manufacturing capacity “would be used to help all of humanity to fight the Covid-19 pandemic and it is in line with this view that we respond positively to requests for the supply of manufactured vaccines. in India from all countries around the world, ”said Shringla.
United Kingdom and Belgium among nations seeking cheaper vaccines made in India
India started implementing its domestic coronavirus vaccine on January 16 using Serum’s Covishield and its inoculation developed autochthonously from Bharat Biotech International Ltd. and on Wednesday started sending vaccines to six neighboring countries – Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, Maldives and Seychelles. He is also waiting for regulatory permits from Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Mauritius to send the shots, India’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
India says it may increase its production of Covid-19 vaccines to 500 million a month for export, as it receives interest from the UK, Belgium and countries across the Middle East and Africa seeking access to cheaper vaccines.
Trade Talks
Commercial supplies of Indian vaccines will go to several other countries in Africa, Latin America, Pacific Island states and the United Nations, said Shringla. Although the initiative is part of India’s economic “self-sufficiency” campaign, the country hopes to partner with the United States in building “supply chains for medicines, sensitive technologies and minerals”.
India hopes to restart trade negotiations with the United States and is “looking forward to a limited trade agreement” followed by a comprehensive one, added the Foreign Secretary. The U.S. is India’s largest trading partner, with $ 150 billion bilateral trade in 2019.
New Delhi also hopes to work with Biden to strengthen maritime security in the Indo-Pacific and to combat terrorism, said Shringla.
India is in negotiations with China to “effect a possible shutdown. This process is currently underway, ”he said. “We are clear, at the level of our senior leadership, that we will do everything we can to maintain this dialogue and we will do everything we can to ensure a resolution that is in the best interests of both countries”
India’s border conflict with China, with thousands of soldiers stationed on the Himalayan borders, has been at an impasse since May last year, with no resolution, despite several rounds of military and diplomatic negotiations.
– With the help of Adrian Wong
(Details updates)