PremiumNEW DELHI: Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said the US and India were united in the fight to tackle the covid-19 pandemic and Washington is determined to help India with its coronavirus crisis.
The reiteration of support was given to Indian foreign minister S. Jaishankar, who is in the US on his first official visit since the Biden administration took office four months ago. A good part of Jaishankar’s visit has been spent in seeking help to combat a devastating second wave of infections back home.
Blinken’s comments underlining support to India comes after an initial slow response from the US to respond to India’s crippling wave of infections in April-May. But the US has since flown in at least a half a dozen flights with critical oxygen cylinders and concentrator and medical supplies including medicines like remdesivir worth an estimated $500 million.
"In the earlier days of covid-19, India was there for the United States - something we will never forget," Blinken said. "And now we want to make sure that we're there for India as well."
Blinken said the partnership between the two countries is "vital," "strong" and "increasingly productive."
“We're united in confronting covid-19 together," Blinken said.
He said the two countries were also united in addressing climate change, and were partnered directly through the Quad--a four country groupthat also includes Japan and Australia--and through UN institutions "in dealing with many of the challenges we face in the region and around the world."
In his remarks, Jaishankar on Friday said India was grateful to Washington for strong support and solidarity.
India this month has recorded its highest death toll since the pandemic began last year. Only about 3% of India’s 1.3 billion people have been fully vaccinated, the lowest rate among the 10 countries with the most cases.
Jaishankar said India was appreciative to Washington for its "strong support and solidarity at a moment of great difficulty for us."
US Acting Assistant Secretary for South Asia Dean Thompson later told a briefing hosted by the State Department's Foreign Press Center that vaccine manufacturing, procurement and delivery were discussed with Jaishankar, but declined to give details, a Reuters report said. He said final decisions were still pending as to where up to 80 million vaccine doses President Joe Biden has promised to send abroad would go.
Thomson said the US Government, state governments, US companies, and private citizens had provided over $500 million in covid-19 relief supplies to India.He said the assistance had included redirecting a US order of critical vaccine manufacturing supplies that would allow India to make over 20 million additional doses of the AstraZeneca covid-19 vaccine.India pledged last month to fast-track vaccine imports. Its insistence on local trials and a dispute over indemnity stalled discussions with US firm Pfizer. India did away with local trials for “well-established" foreign vaccines on Thursday and a health official said Pfizer shots could arrive by July.
US-India ties have grown closer in recent years amid shared concerns about China's rise and they have increased cooperation through the Quad.
U.S. President Joe Biden’s Indo-Pacific policy coordinator, Kurt Campbell, said on Wednesday that the US is hoping to host an in person summit of leaders of the Quad in the fall, with a focus on infrastructure. The Quad held a first virtual summit in March and pledged to work closely on covid-19 vaccines, climate and security.
(Reuters and PTI contributed to this report)
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