Vaccine diplomacy underscores India’s position as the ‘Pharmacy of the World’

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New Delhi has so far sent 60 million doses of Made-in-India Covid 19 vaccine to more than 70 countries. Minister of State for External Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs, V Muraleedharan said that India’s vaccine diplomacy has generated goodwill while enhancing the country’s role in the global sphere.</p>
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Speaking at the first annual Forum for Indian Development Cooperation (FIDC) Symposium being called as ‘Development Cooperation Dialogue’ organised by the think-tank RIS, Muraleedharan noted that ‘development partnership’ has been a core element of India’s foreign policy.</p>
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He also said that a distinctive feature of India’s development partnership was that it was human centric and based on sustainable development. Following the outbreak of the pandemic, India has provided humanitarian assistance to countries across the world by sending essential medicines, conducting capacity building and training programmes through webinar modules, dispatching rapid response teams and developing information sharing platform (in South Asia), the minister said.</p>
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These efforts have also shown India’s solidarity with other developing countries at this time of global crisis, he added.</p>
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Referring to the various elements of India’s development partnership including grant-in-aid, Line of Credit (LoC)as well as capacity building and technical assistance, the minister said more than $4 billion has been given as grant-in-aid covering sectors including infrastructure, agriculture, education and health generating good will and long-term partnership. </p>
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India has also extended 311 LoC worth $31.6 billon to 64countries covering 657 projects on socio-economic development and capacity building in developing countries, he added. These LoCs are expected to boost India's export of goods and services in sectors including power, transport, connectivity, agriculture, irrigation and manufacturing in markets abroad, Muraleedharan said.</p>