At G7 summit, PM Modi bats for ‘one earth, one health’ approach to combat Covid

Tribune News Service
Gurugram, June 13

Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought the G7’s support for the India- South Africa proposal moved at the WTO for intellectual property rights (IPR) waiver on Covid-related technologies while speaking virtually at the first Outreach Session of the G7 Summit on Saturday.

The PM hoped the ongoing meeting of the world’s most powerful bloc would send out the message of 'One Earth, One Health' for the whole world while underlining the “special responsibility of democratic and transparent societies in this regard”. 

All G-7 countries and the guest nations—Australia, India, South Korea and South Africa—at Cornwall, UK, are democracies and many of them have asked China to come clean on the origin of the Covid virus.

Sources said the PM’s ‘One Earth, One Health’ approach, “got echoed’’ by German Chancellor Angela Merkel. His call for backing the India-South Africa proposal at the WTO received strong support from Australia and others, they said.

The PM, who opted not to travel to Cornwall due to the second wave here, called for global unity, leadership, and solidarity to prevent future pandemics and committed India’s support for collective endeavours to improve global health governance. 

PM Modi was participating in the first Outreach Session of the G7 Summit on Saturday and is scheduled to address two more on Sunday.

Virtually addressing the session, ‘Building Back Stronger - Health’, the PM also spoke on global recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and on strengthening resilience against future pandemics, stated an MEA news release.

He also highlighted India’s ‘whole of society’ approach to fight the pandemic, synergising the efforts of all levels of the government, industry and civil society. India was successful in using digital tools for contact tracing and vaccine management and was willing to share its experience and expertise with other developing countries.

The PM expressed appreciation for the support extended by the G7 and other guest countries during the recent second wave in India.

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