NSA Jake Sullivan and EAM Jaishankar discussed Indo-Pacific, climate change and agreed that people-to-people ties and shared values are the foundation of US-India partnership.
US is learnt to have told both India & South Africa that while it supports temporary TRIPS waiver, it will 'only' be applicable to Covid vaccines and not to medicines, ventilators etc.
It is time countries acted with a humanitarian approach at WTO and relaxed IPR provisions for Covid-19 vaccines. And it can be done without disincentivising R&D efforts.
For President Joe Biden to take a stand against pharmaceutical companies is no small matter. His presidential campaign was the near sole beneficiary of pharma largesse in 2020.
India and South Africa have proposed a broad waiver from the Trips agreement’s rules on the production and export of vaccines needed to combat the Covid-19 virus.
A lot of obstacles have slowed things down, not all patent-related: Raw materials supplies, the complexity of new technologies and logistical issues in scaling up production.
US, EU, Canada and other developed nations, with access to Covid-19 vaccines, must stop opposing India and South Africa's proposal to waive patent and intellectual property rights.
Driving an electric vehicle for months, the Hyundai IONIQ5, BMW iX and now the Kia Carens Clavis electric, has convinced me of the viability of EVs for city and mid-range commutes.
With the US-India trade deal yet to get done, rupee depreciation may be helping to mitigate India’s loss of competitiveness. The other problem is extreme despondence among overseas equity investors.
Of the total package, $649 million will be utilised for additional hardware, software, and support services, and the remaining for Major Defence Equipment (MDE).
Don’t blame misfortune. This is colossal incompetence and insensitivity. So bad, heads would have rolled even in the old PSU-era Indian Airlines and Air India.
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