Washington: Calling COVID-19 pandemic and vaccines as one of the most important aspects of his discussions with top officials of the Biden administration, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday said the endeavour is to expand production of vaccines in India with assistance from the United States. Jaishankar, who is on an official trip to the US, is the first Indian Cabinet minister to visit the country since Joe Biden became US President on January 20.
“The primary focus of the visit obviously was on the relationship with the new administration. It is a very important relationship. Also, to engage with the senior cabinet members here,” he told a group of Indian reporters here as he concluded most of his engagements.
“There was also of course the COVID-19 context because of the vaccine partnership between India and the US, and also Quad-based discussions on vaccines. That was also one of the important subjects. In fact, in many ways, I would say the most important subject of my discussion,” the minister said.
Jaishankar met Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, US Trade Representatives Katherine Tai and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines over the past two days.
Jaishankar held wide-ranging talks with his US counterpart Antony Blinken and thanked the Biden administration for its “strong support and solidarity” with India at a moment of “great difficulty” for the country in combating the deadly COVID-19 pandemic.
Welcoming Jaishankar to the State Department, Blinken said in the early days of COVID-19, India was there for the US, something which the country “will never forget”.
“Now we want to make sure that we are there for and with India,” he said.
Addressing reporters at the State Department in a joint media interaction before the two leaders headed for the meeting, Jaishankar said, “We have a lot of issues to discuss. I think our relations have grown stronger over the years and I’m very confident that it’ll continue to do so.”
“I also want to take the opportunity to express to the Secretary, through him to the administration, (and) to the United States for the strong support and solidarity and at the moment of great difficulty (for us),” he said.
Blinken said the US and India are working together on many important challenges of “our time”.
“We are united in confronting COVID-19 together…We are united in dealing with the challenge posed by climate change and we are partnered together directly through the QUAD and other institutions in the United Nations in dealing with many of the challenges that we face in the region,” he said.
The Quad is a grouping of the US, India, Japan and Australia that aims at strengthening a rules-based order in the strategically-important Indo-Pacific amidst China”s aggressive actions in the region.
“The partnership between the US and India is vital, strong, and I think it is increasingly productive,” Blinken added.
Jaishankar is also the only third foreign minister to have visited the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department to meet his US counterpart Blinken. The other two were Jordan’s Ayman Safadi and Columbia’s Foreign Minister-Designate Marta Lucia Ramirez, who met Blinken earlier in the day.
The Indian delegation included Ambassador of India to the US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu; MEA Joint Secretary Shilpak Ambule; Deputy Chief of Mission Sudhakar Dalela; and First Secretary Chitrangna Singh.
The American delegation included Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, John Kerry. The other members were Acting Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, Dean Thompson; Coordinator for Global COVID Response and Health Security, Gayle Smith; Senior Director for South Asia at the National Security Council, Sumona Guha; and Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy, Tom Sullivan.
