Press Releases
November 06, 2020
1. The Ministry of External Affairs organized a briefing session on COVID-19 related issues for diplomatic missions and international organisations in New Delhi on 6 November 2020. More than 190 heads of diplomatic missions and international organisations and their representatives participated in the briefing.
2. Since March 2020, India has proactively engaged with its partner countries in our joint fight against COVID-19 by supplying medicines, diagnostic kits and medical equipment as well as by organizing online training programmes for testing and case management. As its vaccine development programme progressed, India organized training programmes on clinical trials for neighbouring countries in which nearly 90 experts from 8 countries participated. We stand ready to expand these cooperation programmes with the neighbouring and other interested countries.
3. In today’s briefing, the participants were briefed by Dr. Vinod K Paul, Member, NITI Aayog; Prof. K. Vijay Raghavan, Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India; Health Secretary Shri Rajesh Bhushan; Dr. Renu Swarup, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology; Prof. Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, Department of Science & Technology; Dr. Shekhar Mande, Director General of Council for Scientific & Industrial Research; and Shri Abhishek Singh, President & CEO of E-Governance Division of Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology. Foreign Secretary Shri Harsh Vardhan Shringla also attended the briefing.
4. Participants were briefed on India’s management of COVID-19, its vaccine development programme, software and related issues of vaccine delivery system and international cooperation. It was conveyed that MEA would organize a tour of heads of diplomatic missions and international organisations to Pune where they can visit the institutions engaged in COVID-19 related research and vaccine development programmes.
