US STANDS WITH INDIA IN COVID BATTLE: BLINKEN TO JAISHANKAR
US secretary of state Antony Blinken on Friday assured external affairs minister S Jaishankar that Washington would stand with New Delhi in tackling Covid-19 just as India had stood by the US in the initial days of the pandemic last year.
The assurance came as Jaishankar met Blinken in Washington to discuss cooperation in the global response to Covid-19, including access to vaccines and raw materials, and regional developments such as the situation in Afghanistan. Jaishankar is the first Indian cabinet minister to visit the US since the Biden administration assumed office in January.
“India was there for the US... now we want to make sure that we’re there for and with India,” Blinken told reporters before beginning his meeting with Jaishankar. He added that the India, US relationship is “vital”.
Jaishankar said India-US relations had grown stronger over the years and expressed his gratitude for the strong support and solidarity shown by the Biden administration “at a moment of great difficulty for us”.
WASHINGTON: External affairs minister S Jaishankar on Thursday held a wide range of discussions with top officials of the Biden administration, including National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, US trade representative Katherine Tai and top spy Avril Haines, besides members of Congress and business leaders, in a first such expansive in-person engagement between the two governments.
The minister, in a tweet, said that he and Sullivan discussed the Indo-Pacific region, which is a core area of cooperation between the two nations bilaterally, and multilaterally with their Quad partners Australia and Japan; and Afghanistan, which is one of a few areas of dissonance due to India’s unease over US plans to withdraw all its troops from the region by September 11.
In a statement, the White House National Security Council said the leaders agreed that the two countries “should continue working closely together to address common challenges throughout the Indo-Pacific region”.
They also agreed that “people-to-people ties, and shared values are the foundation” of the strategic partnership that is “helping to end the pandemic, supporting a free and open Indo-Pacific, and providing global leadership on climate change”.
India and the US are collaborating along with Quad partners Australia and Japan to produce more than 1 billion
Covid-19 vaccines for distribution among Indo-Pacific countries, as part of an initiative they announced after their first summit level meeting held virtually in March.
Jaishankar also “conveyed appreciation” to Sullivan for US’ “solidarity” in addressing India’s Covid-19 challenge. Sullivan noted that the US, together with private sector companies and private individuals, had sent $500 million worth of relief to India, including oxygen supplies to help the country tide over a crippling shortage, therapeutics such as Remdesivir and personal protective equipment.
Jaishankar thanked US Trade Representative Tai as well at their meeting for her “positive stance” on “IPR issues & support for effective & robust supply chains”, the minister said in a tweet.
“Our trade, technology & business cooperation are at the core of our strategic partnership. Enhancing them is vital to post-Covid economic recovery,” Jaishankar wrote in the tweet.
Jaishankar also held a meeting with US defence secretary Lloyd Austin during which they discussed further developing strategic and defence partnership between the two countries and exchanged views on “contemporary security challenges”.
“A warm meeting with US @SecDef Lloyd Austin. A comprehensive conversation about further developing our strategic and defence partnership,” Jaishankar tweeted. Jaishankar also met the Director of National Intelligence, Avril Haines.