As Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacted with SAARC leaders on Sunday through video conference, he listed out a series of measures that the countries could take to deal with the issue of coronavirus. He said in the conference that all the member countries of SAARC must 'all prepare together, act together and succeed together' in this endeavor to tackle the outbreak.
Modi asked all the SAARC countries to create a COVID19 emergency fund in which all SAARC countries could contribute. Modi had also pledged that he is willing to offer 10 million US dollars for the fund.
"I propose, we create a #COVID19 emergency fund. This could be based on voluntary contributions from all of us. India can start with an initial offer of 10 million US dollars for this fund," Modi said.
Moreover, Prime Minister Modi proposed that a Rapid response team of doctors and specialists in India, along with testing kits and other equipment will be at the disposal for any SAARC countries during matters of emergency.
"We are assembling a Rapid Response Team of doctors and specialists in India, along with testing kits and other equipment. They will be on stand-by, to be placed at your disposal, if required," he said.
Modi also proposed that an 'Integrated Disease Surveillance Portal to better trace possible virus carriers'. "We have set up an Integrated Disease Surveillance Portal to better trace possible virus carriers and the people they contacted. We could share this Disease Surveillance software with SAARC partners, and training on using this," Modi said.
He also floated the idea of a 'common research platform' so that research can be coordinated in order to control the epidemic disease within South Asia. The Indian Council of Medical Research can offer help coordinating such an exercise," he said.
"As Let us ask our officials to maintain close contact & identify nodal experts from each of our countries & they can have similar video conference one week from now to follow up on our discussions today," he added.
On Friday, Modi had urged the SAARC countries member states to chalk out a joint strategy to fight novel coronavirus pandemic.
SAARC stands for South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation with eight members including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
In a series of tweets, Modi wrote, "Our planet is battling the COVID-19 Novel Coronavirus. At various levels, governments and people are trying their best to combat it. South Asia, which is home to a significant number of the global population should leave no stone unturned to ensure our people are healthy."
I would like to propose that the leadership of SAARC nations chalk out a strong strategy to fight coronavirus, he said.
We could discuss, via video conferencing, ways to keep our citizens healthy, Modi suggested.
On Friday, all other SAARC countries had welcome the idea and affirmed participation in the meet.