Senior officials of India, Japan, United States and Australia held a video interaction on Friday and discussed several issues like “open and inclusive Indo-Pacific” and the need for “safe, effective and affordable access to COVID-19 vaccines.”
“In the context of the ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic, the officials underscored the importance of enhancing the resilience of supply chains for an expeditious and sustainable global economic recovery. They also highlighted the need to ensure safe, effective and affordable access to COVID-19 vaccines,” a statement from the Ministry of External Affairs said on Friday.
The meeting was a follow up to similar official level discussions in September and the Ministerial Meeting of October 6 in Tokyo this year. Apart from the pandemic-related discussion, the officials also reviewed ongoing and “proposed practical cooperation” in the areas of connectivity and infrastructure development and security issues.
The statement from the MEA said, the discussion included, “counter-terrorism, cyber security, maritime security, humanitarian and disaster relief with the objective of promoting peace security, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region.”
