Modi to attend global Covid summit today
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will participate in the second global virtual summit on Covid-19 on Thursday being hosted by US president Joe Biden, the foreign affairs ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
The PM had also participated in the first global summit held on September 2021.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi will participate in the Second Global COVID Virtual Summit on May 12 at the invitation of the President of the USA, Joseph R Biden Jr,” the MEA said on Wednesday.
“The Summit intends to galvanize new actions to address the continued challenges of the Covid pandemic and build a stronger global health security architecture,” it said.
According to the statement, the PM will deliver remarks in the opening session of the summit on the theme of ‘Preventing Pandemic Fatigue and Prioritising Preparedness’.
“India is playing a key role in ongoing global efforts to combat the pandemic by supplying safe and affordable vaccines, medicines, development of low-cost indigenous technologies to test and treat, genomic surveillance, and capacity building for health care workers,” the statement read.
“India is also proactively engaged in multilateral fora with the objective of strengthening and reforming the global health security architecture with WHO at its centre.”
The summit will also be attended by heads of state/government of Belize in its capacity as Chair of CARICOM, Senegal as Chair of African Union, Indonesia as President of G20 and Germany as President of G7 respectively. SecretaryGeneral of the United Nations, Director General of World Health Organization and other dignitaries would also participate. The Caribbean Community is an intergovernmental organisation of 15 member states in the Caribbean region having the primary objective to promote economic integration and cooperation among the members.
India recorded 2,505 new Covid-19 cases and 52 deaths on Wednesday, according to health ministry data. While the total number of cases stands at 43,112,690, the total deaths reported are 522,864. Total recoveries stands at 42,557,939, as per ministry data.