At a meeting between the UN envoys of India and the US, both countries reaffirmed their strategic partnership and efforts to strengthen multilateralism as Washington praised New Delhi for supplying critical COVID-19 vaccines across the world.
India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador TS Tirumurti, on Twitter, wrote that during the meeting with US Ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield the two sides reaffirmed their strategic partnership.
“Pleasure to meet new @USAmbUN Permanent Representative @LindaT_G and discuss priorities of US Presidency of @UN #SecurityCouncil,” Tirumurti tweeted.
“We reaffirmed our strategic partnership. India”s vaccine contribution was welcomed. We”ll work together to strengthen multilateralism,” he tweeted.
Beginning its two-year tenure as a non-permanent member of the powerful 15-nation council in January, India had said it comes into the Security Council as the largest democracy in the world, “with a strong commitment to reformed multilateralism, rule of law, fair and equitable international system, peace, security and development.”
Thomas-Greenfield, who formally presented her credentials to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres last week, asserted that “multilateralism is back, and diplomacy is back, and America is back, and we’re ready to get to work.”
Thomas-Greenfield held meetings with all 14 of the Permanent Representatives to the UN on the Security Council.
“In meetings with the Permanent Representatives to the United Nations from Estonia, India, Kenya, Mexico, Niger, Tunisia, and Vietnam, Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield discussed the upcoming US presidency of the UN Security Council and conveyed the Biden administration’s commitment to renewed engagement with the international community,” United States Mission Spokesperson Olivia Dalton said in a statement.
India’s efforts and contribution towards providing critical supplies of the COVID-19 vaccines around the world are being widely applauded, with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres hailing India for being a “global leader in pandemic response efforts”.
India has provided coronavirus vaccines, critical medicines, diagnostic kits, ventilators and personal protective equipment to more than 150 countries.
India has also announced a gift of 200,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses for UN Peacekeepers, ensuring that it will be possible to administer the required double doses of COVID-19 vaccines to the 94,484-UN Peacekeepers across the 12 missions.
Under the initiative “Vaccine Maitri” (Vaccine Friendship), India is providing immunisation doses to the world.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had told the Security Council last week that India is a significant contributor to the international vaccine alliance, COVAX, and that it was also directly sending vaccines to friends and partners.
Guterres had said that efforts by India in developing and manufacturing one of the two vaccines currently granted “Emergency Use Listing” by the World Health Organisation brought “much-needed supply to the global vaccine market”.