Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said there was a need for global rating agencies and bodies such as the IMF to be ‘compassionate’ towards developing countries and give them ‘a longer rope’ for economic revival.
Mr. Goyal also asserted that India can not only vaccinate its 1.35 billion people but also produce enough for the rest of the world if supply restrictions are resolved.
“All the 7 billion people in the world need to be vaccinated, as nobody’s safe till everybody’s safe,” he said.
The Minister was speaking at the UN Trade Forum attended by the World Trade Organization Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala who called for slashing export curbs and expediting Intellectual Property waivers to boost universal vaccination. “First, we can’t recover without vaccines. Trade policy is vaccine policy and vaccine policy is trade policy,” she said.
“I do hope that credit rating agencies and agencies like the IMF, which kind of dictate the financial architecture of the world, do not land up being unfairly harsh on the developing and less-developed countries because this is the time to be compassionate, more liberal and supportive of those countries,” said Mr. Goyal. “A little longer rope needs to be given, even with regard to earlier agreements or commitments, so that these countries have space to bring their economies back on track,” he said.
