India bats for regional cooperation

New Delhi, March 20

While PM Narendra Modi’s bid for an emergency summit of the G-20 failed to gain traction like the teleconferencing among SAARC members, India has turned its attention to countering Covid-19 by other forums.

Indian officials participated in a telecom organised by China while Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla participated in a telephonic conference call initiated by US Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun for discussions among some countries in the Indo-Pacific region on issues related to countering Covid. The teleconference included senior representatives from Australia, the Republic of Korea, Vietnam, New Zealand and Japan.

The participants shared their assessments of the current situation and discussed ways to synergise their efforts to counter its spread.

Shringla spoke on the proactive steps taken by India both nationally and in the region while conveying India’s desire to regularly share its perspectives with partners in the region and to work together with others to counter this challenge. The participants are expected to continue the conference call on a weekly basis, covering issues like cooperation on vaccine development, challenges of stranded citizens, assistance to countries in need and mitigating the impact on the global economy, etc. — TNS