External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met influential American lawmakers from each the Democratic and Republican events on Thursday and mentioned developments pertaining to Quad and the cooperation on vaccines with them.
“Discussed developments pertaining to Quad and our cooperation on vaccines. Recognise their leadership in building stronger ties,” Jaishankar mentioned after his assembly with Congressman Gregory Meeks, who’s the chairman of the highly effective House Foreign Affairs Committee, together with its rating member, Congressman Michael McCaul.
The minister additionally had a “good conversation” with the co-chairs of the House India Caucus, Congressman Brad Sherman from the Democratic Party and Congressman Steve Chabot from the Republican Party.
“The US Congress has been a tremendous pillar of support as India meets the Covid challenge,” Jaishankar tweeted.
All the 4 US lawmakers have been sturdy advocates of the India-US relationship.
In a tweet, Sherman mentioned he discovered how India is preventing COVID-19 and dealing to disentangle its financial system from China.
A day earlier, after introducing the Ensuring American Global Leadership and Engagement (EAGLE) Act, Congressman Meeks appreciated the Biden administration’s initiative in direction of India.
“Secretaries Blinken and Austin’s trips to Japan and Korea, and Secretary Austin’s separate trip to India, so early in the new administration, reinforced America’s role as a Pacific power, and signalled to China and the world that the United States is back in the arena with our allies and partners alongside us,” he mentioned.
Tag: S Jaishankar US Visit
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Jaishankar meets US lawmakers, discusses developments pertaining to Quad, cooperation on vaccines
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Confident that India will proceed to form large debates of our occasions: EAM Jaishankar
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has expressed confidence that India will proceed to form the “big debates of our times” as he interacted with Permanent Representative Ambassador T S Tirumurti and different officers and diplomats from India to the United Nations.
Jaishankar arrived in New York on Sunday night on his first go to to the US after India entered the UN Security Council as a non-permanent member in January this yr and can meet UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday.
“A productive strategy session with @ambtstirumurti and our UN team in New York @IndiaUNNewYork. Confident that India will continue to shape the big debates of our times,” Jaishankar tweeted on Monday after his assembly with Tirumurti, Deputy Permanent Representative Ambassador Okay Nagaraj Naidu and diplomats from the Permanent Mission of India to the UN.
“Grateful to EAM @DrSJaishankar for guidance in focussing our efforts in @UN and in Security Council for 2021-22,” Tirumurti tweeted.
From New York, Jaishankar will journey to Washington the place he’s anticipated to fulfill US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
A State Department spokesperson mentioned Blinken and Jaishankar would focus on a variety of points, together with COVID-19, efforts to strengthen Indo-Pacific cooperation by the Quad grouping, enhancing the UN and multilateral cooperation.
“The Secretary looks forward to meeting Minister Jaishankar during his visit, and to discussing a broad range of issues, including COVID-19 relief, efforts to strengthen Indo-Pacific cooperation through the Quad, enhanced UN and multilateral cooperation, and a range of other shared regional security and economic priorities,” the spokesperson mentioned.
In addition to assembly his counterpart, Jaishankar is scheduled to fulfill US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, different senior officers of the Biden administration, influential lawmakers, think-tanks, leaders of the company sector and members of the Indian American group.
Neither the State Department nor the Ministry of External Affairs have introduced the day and timing of the Jaishankar-Blinken assembly.
Blinken on Monday left for a fast journey to the Middle East as a part of the efforts of the Biden administration’s peace course of within the area. -
Jaishankar in US subsequent week on vaccine mission for India and neighbours
FACED WITH an enormous scarcity of vaccines in a raging second wave of the Covid-19 epidemic, the Government is sending External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to the US subsequent week to fulfill high officers and vaccine producers to agency up offers for provide.
President Joe Biden introduced 5 days in the past that the US will start transport 20 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-vaccines to needy nations by June-end, along with 60 million pictures of AstraZeneca.
There isn’t any readability but on the distribution particulars however India is prone to be one of many beneficiaries. AstraZeneca’s vaccine, which is being manufactured and distributed in India as Covishield, has not but been authorised to be used within the US with a number of irregularities coming to the fore on the Baltimore plant the place it’s made together with the J&J vaccines.
Sources advised The Indian Express that Jaishankar’s mission, throughout his go to from May 24-28, shall be to “persuade the US to send as many vaccines as possible to India and its neighbours”. Recently, Bangladesh Foreign Minister A Ok Abdul Momen had reached out to Jaishankar for lobbying with the US on this regard. Nepal, Sri Lanka and Maldives have additionally been asking for vaccines.
In an announcement, the Ministry of External Affairs mentioned: “In New York, he (Jaishankar) is expected to meet UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. In Washington DC, he will hold discussions with his counterpart US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. He will also be meeting Cabinet members and senior officials of the administration dealing with the bilateral relationship.”
The External Affairs Minister may also have interaction in two interactions with enterprise boards on financial and Covid-related cooperation between India and the US, the assertion mentioned.
Jaishankar, who met Blinken on the sidelines of the G-7 Foreign Ministers’ assembly in London early this month, had interacted with the US Global Task Force on Pandemic Relief just lately over video-conferencing. He had mentioned with CEOs their assist for India’s efforts.
The groundwork for Jaishankar’s go to has been laid by India’s Ambassador to the US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, who held a collection of conferences with high US officers, together with CDC director Rochelle Walensky, Chief Medical Advisor to the US President Dr Anthony Fauci, USAID administrator Samantha Power and US State Department Coordinator for Global Covid Response and Health Security Gayle Smith.
Over the previous couple of weeks, Sandhu has additionally held conferences with vaccine producers, together with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla and J&J Chairman and CEO Alex Gorsky, and suppliers of uncooked materials for medicines like Remdesivir and vaccines like Covishield.
On Thursday, the MEA’s official spokesperson Arindam Bagchi had mentioned that India is engaged with American entities for procurement of Covid vaccines and their doable manufacture within the nation.
“We have, of course, noted the recent announcement by the US government of its intention to make some vaccines available to some other countries,” Bagchi mentioned. “I would like to emphasise that all vaccines that may be procured from abroad would need to be as per our regulatory guidelines. I understand that the US has also indicated that any vaccines it sends abroad would be after obtaining FDA (Food and Drug Administration) clearance for product quality,” he mentioned.
Recently, Charge D’Affaires of the US Embassy Daniel B Smith had mentioned the US was taking a look at joint manufacturing of J&J’s Covid vaccines in India and methods to assist producers like Serum Institute of India enhance manufacturing.
So far, the US authorities’s Covid help to India is estimated to be about $100 million, together with six planeloads of life-saving provides.