The Quad group of nations in their first-ever leaders’ meeting on Friday, 12 March, plan to announce financing agreements to support an increase in manufacturing capacity for coronavirus vaccines in India, a senior US administration official told news agency Reuters.
The financing agreements will be between the United States, Japan, and others, and focus particularly on companies and institutions in India manufacturing vaccines for American drugmakers Novavax Inc and Johnson & Johnson, the official, who did not want to be named, said.
The aim of the initiative by the Quad, which groups the United States, India, Japan, and Australia, would be to reduce manufacturing backlogs, speed vaccination, and defeat some coronavirus mutations, the official said.
India has urged the other Quad members to invest in its vaccine production capacity in an attempt to counter China’s widening vaccine diplomacy.
Some of the additional vaccine capacity created in India would be used in vaccination efforts in Southeast Asian countries, the US official added.
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said she expected a range of issues facing the global community to be discussed “from the threat of COVID, to economic cooperation and... the climate crisis.”
PM Modi, Joe Biden to Participate in Quad Summit
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be participating in the first-ever virtual Leaders’ Summit of the Quadrilateral Framework, along with US President Joe Biden, Australian PM Scott Morrison, and Japan PM Yoshihide Suga, on 12 March, the Ministry of External Affairs announced on Tuesday.
“The Leaders will discuss regional and global issues of shared interest, and exchange views on practical areas of cooperation towards maintaining a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region. The Summit will provide an opportunity to exchange views on contemporary challenges such as resilient supply chains, emerging and critical technologies, maritime security, and climate change,” the MEA said in its statement.
Also on the agenda will be the ongoing efforts against the COVID-19 pandemic and opportunities for collaboration to ensure “safe, equitable and affordable” supply vaccines in the Indo-Pacific region.
Earlier on Tuesday, PM Modi had a conversation with his Japanese counterpart on the progress of the India-Japan Special Strategic and Global Partnership. “We exchanged views on contemporary global challenges and agreed to further enhance our cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region,” Modi tweeted.
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