India on Friday briefed 190 heads of diplomatic missions and international organisations and their representatives on the COVID-19 pandemic containment in the country. The outreach is significant in view of the growing number of positive cases in the country and vaccine development efforts.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said the interaction was part of the proactive engagement between Indian stakeholders and international representatives based in India. “We stand ready to expand these cooperation programmes with the neighbouring and other interested countries,” the MEA said in a statement.
Friday’s briefing was led by Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla; Dr. Vinod K. Paul, Member, NITI Aayog; and Professor K. Vijay Raghavan, Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India, among others.
“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,” the statement said. It was announced that the MEA would organise a visit to Pune for heads of missions and representatives, where the visitors could interact with the Indian companies engaged in vaccine development.
