New Delhi: Taking forward the initiative started by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in adopting a cooperative approach to fight the Corona pandemic, India today handed over two million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to Bangladesh.
The vaccine was handed over in Dhaka by the High Commissioner of India Vikram Doraiswami to the Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen and Health Minister Zahid Maleq.
AIR Correspondent reports, the gift of two million doses of corona vaccine by India to Bangladesh symbolises the deep and historic relations between the two countries. Handing over the vaccine gift, High Commissioner Vikram Doraiswami said that the gift was part of the country’s neighbourhood first policy under which India accords high priority to its relationship with Bangladesh. He said that the gift of 20 lakh doses of ‘Covishield’ is in fact the biggest such dispatches by India to any of the neighboring countries.
The High Commissioner said that in line with the discussions held during the virtual summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina, India has delivered the vaccines within a week of the vaccine roll-out in India.
He added that the arrival of the vaccine is only the latest of many steps already taken by the two countries to combat COVID-19 together. It takes forward the initiative taken by Prime Minister Modi in March when he convened a meeting of SAARC leaders through video conferencing to have a cooperative approach to fight the pandemic. Following the meeting, the SAARC COVID-19 emergency fund was set up.
Foreign Minister of Bangladesh Dr AK Abdul Momen thanked the government and people of India for the vaccines. He said India stood by Bangladesh during the Liberation War and has again come with the gift of vaccines for the country.
India also sent 1 million doses of COVID vaccine to Nepal as a gift under the ‘Vaccine Maitri’ initiative. Nepal Health Minister Hridayesh Tripathi said the vaccine gifted by India will be given to health workers and other front-line personnel within a week to 10 days.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar confirmed on Twitter that Nepal received Indian vaccines. The Minister said in another tweet, along with a photograph of Air India flight that carried the consignments to Dhaka, Touchdown in Dhaka. VaccineMaitri reaffirms the highest priority accorded by India to relations with Bangladesh.
Yesterday India had sent 150,000 doses of ‘Covisheild’ vaccines to Bhutan and 100,000 doses to the Maldives. In a major announcement, Indian Government said on Tuesday that it will send COVID-19 vaccines to Bhutan, Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar and Seychelles from Wednesday and supplies to Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Mauritius will commence after confirmation of necessary regulatory clearances.
India is one of the world’s biggest drugmakers, and an increasing number of countries have already approached it for procuring the Coronavirus vaccines.
The MEA said it will ensure that domestic manufacturers will have adequate stocks to meet domestic requirements while supplying abroad. India had earlier supplied Hydroxychloroquine, Remdesivir and paracetamol tablets, as well as diagnostic kits, ventilators, masks, gloves and other medical supplies to a large number of countries to help them deal with the pandemic.