NEW DELHI: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday said the world is counting on India to make Covid vaccine accessible and affordable for all. “Prime Minister Modi has committed to the UN that we will help make vaccines accessible and affordable to all. From the regular conversations I have had with so many counterparts, the world is counting on us to do so,” he said while delivering the keynote address at the Deccan Dialogue.
Saying that all countries must emerge out of the pandemic with a stronger sense of cooperation, Jaishankar said India has always been the first responder with regard to humanitarian assistance and relief operations. “We have been there, whether it was the Nepal earthquake, the Yemen civil war, the Mozambique cyclone and the Sri Lanka mudslides,” he said.
On terrorism, the EAM slammed Pakistan without naming for sponsoring terrorism and said India’s efforts had helped keep the spotlight on it. “The world is gradually becoming aware of the global nature of international terror.
We have in our immediate neighbourhood, a particularly egregious example of state-sponsored cross-border terrorism,” he said and added that relentless efforts had kept it in the spotlight bringing out the related aspects like terror finance radicalisation and cyber recruitments. Jaishankar, speaking about Vande Bharat Mission, said India brought back more than 24 lakh people from other countries during lockdown.