India will begin commercial deliveries of Covid-19 vaccines to Brazil and Morocco on Friday, followed by Saudi Arabia and South Africa, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi is trying to lose credentials as a key global leader.
“There is a huge international demand for our vaccines,” Foreign Secretary Harsh Shringla told Bloomberg TV in an interview. “We expect to see more global players cooperating with their Indian pharmaceutical counterparts and health sectors. This will probably go beyond moving parts of supply chains to India. We expect to see collaborations, production and research and development links in this field. ”
Foreign Minister Harsh Shringla discusses the distribution of vaccines in India and ties to the new US administration in an interview with Rishaad Salamat of Bloomberg.
The massive vaccination unit begins in India, despite safety concerns
The inoculations exported so far have been manufactured by Serum Institute of India Ltd. – the largest vaccine manufacturer in the world in volume – with which it has collaborated AstraZeneca Plc will make at least a billion doses of their shot. Brazil has the third largest coronavirus epidemic in the world, behind India and the United States and has made a the late start of his vaccination campaign, Latin American colleagues behind, including Mexico and Argentina.
Supply chains
India is expected to host global drug supply chains and will work with President Joe Biden’s administration to build trade and security ties, Shringla said.
Last year, Modi promised that vaccine delivery in India and production capacity “will be used to help all of humanity fight the Covid-19 pandemic” and it is in line with this vision that we have responded positively to requests for manufactured vaccines from India from all over the world, ”said Shringla.
Great Britain, Belgium among the countries looking for cheaper vaccines made in India
India began internal launch of coronavirus vaccine on January 16 using both Serish’s Covishield and its indigenous inoculation Bharat Biotech International Ltd. and on Wednesday began delivering vaccines to six neighboring countries – Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, Maldives and Seychelles. It is also waiting for regulatory clearances in Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Mauritius to send the shots, the Indian foreign ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
India says it can increase its production of Covid-19 vaccines to 500 million a month for export, as it earns interest from Britain, Belgium and countries in the Middle East and Africa seeking access to cheaper vaccinations.
Trade talks
Commercial supplies of Indian vaccines will be shipped to other countries in Africa, Latin America, the Pacific Islands and the United Nations, Shringla said. While the initiative is part of India’s “self-confidence” economic campaign, the country expects to partner with the US to build “supply chains for medicines, sensitive technologies and minerals”.
India expects to resume trade talks with the US and is “eager to look at a limited trade agreement”, followed by a comprehensive one, the foreign secretary added. The US is India’s largest trading partner, with bilateral trade reaching $ 150 billion in 2019.
New Delhi also hopes to work with Biden to strengthen maritime security in the Indo-Pacific and fight terrorism, Shringla said.
India is in talks with China to “carry out a possible decoupling. This process is active at the moment, “he said. “At the level of our leadership, we are clear 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 interest of both countries.”
India’s border conflict with China, with thousands of troops stationed at its Himalayan borders, has been unresolved since May last year, despite several rounds of military and diplomatic talks.
– With the assistance of Adrian Wong
(Updates with details)