PRIME Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday stressed the need for united global efforts to deal with the coronavirus crisis, saying mankind will not be able to defeat it unless everyone comes out of it. In an address at the Raisina Dialogue, the Prime Minister said India tried to protect its 1.3 billion nationals from COVID-19, and, at the same time, tried to support pandemic response efforts of others. “We understand fully, that mankind will not defeat the pandemic unless all of us, everywhere, regardless of the colour of our passports, come out of it. That is why, this year, despite many constraints, we have supplied vaccines to over 80 countries,” he said at the conference, held virtually.

 

 

 

The PM further said, “We will continue to share our experiences, our expertise and also our resources with humanity in the fight against the pandemic.” While we may be used to having ‘Plan A’ and ‘Plan B’ but there is no Planet B and only Planet Earth, he said and added so, we must remember that we hold this planet merely as trustees for our future generations. The Prime Minister also said that during this pandemic, in our own humble way, within our own limited resources, we in India have tried to walk the talk.

 

Organised by the Observer Research Foundation, a think-tank, in partnership with the MEA, Raisina Dialogue is India’s premier conference on geopolitics and geo-economics, and its sixth edition is being held from April 13 to 16. PM participated in the 6th edition of the Raisina Dialogue with President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame and Prime Minister of Denmark, Mette Frederiksen in the joint inaugural session.

 

 

EXTERNAL Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday stressed on South-South cooperation, humanitarian assistance, disaster resistance in the virtual meeting of Raisina Dialogue 2021 here. “South-South cooperation has been around for a while. With greater globalisation, it is important to change those fancy words into practical initiatives,” said Jaishankar. Lauding Indian effort in providing COVID-19 vaccinations across the world, he said, “Even before the pandemic, India has been providing humanitarian assistance, disaster resistance to all. We have demonstrated in a practical manner, our belief that the world is a family.” India has so far provided COVID-19 vaccines to 83 countries and the total number of vaccines exported is 6.45 crore under Vaccine Maitri initiative. Vaccine Maitri is a humanitarian initiative undertaken by India to provide Made-in-India COVID-19 vaccines to countries around the world, started in January this year. Jaishankar had told that Prime Minister Modi’s ‘Vaccine Maitri’ initiative, under which India has supplied COVID vaccines to over 70 nations, has raised the country’s standing and generated great international goodwill.