New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday assured Canadian PM Justin Trudeau on COVID-19 vaccine supplies. The Centre has sent India made COVID-19 vaccines to around 20 countries and has got a lot of requests from developed as well as developing countries for vaccines.
Taking to micro-blogging site Twitter, PM Modi said that he received a call from his 'friend', the Canadian PM. Besides speaking on COVID-19 vaccines, the two leaders also agreed "to continue collaborating on other important issues like climate change and the global economic recovery".
"Was happy to receive a call from my friend Justin Trudeau. Assured him that India would do its best to facilitate supplies of COVID vaccines sought by Canada. We also agreed to continue collaborating on other important issues like Climate Change and the global economic recovery," PM Modi tweeted.
Was happy to receive a call from my friend @JustinTrudeau. Assured him that India would do its best to facilitate supplies of COVID vaccines sought by Canada. We also agreed to continue collaborating on other important issues like Climate Change and the global economic recovery.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 10, 2021
A readout from PM Modi's office said during the talks Prime Minister Trudeau informed his PM Modi about "Canada's requirements of COVID-19 vaccines from India" to which the latter "assured...that India would do its best to support Canada's vaccination efforts, just as it had done for many other countries already".
The readout said Canadian leader lauded New Delhi saying, "if the world managed to conquer COVID-19, it would be significant because of India's tremendous pharmaceutical capacity" and "Prime Minister Modi's leadership in sharing this capacity with the world".
The vaccines will be supplied commercially from India to Canada. India has already supplied vaccines on a commercial basis to countries like Brazil, Morrocco, South Africa. During the talks, both sides discussed issues such as the economic impact of the pandemic, climate change.
The talks assume significance since ties were impacted in December 2020 after Canadian PM has commented on the farmers' protests in India. An angry New Delhi had summoned Nadir Patel, the Canadian envoy to Delhi and handed over a strong demarche. In fact, the matter was taken up with Canadian authorities both in Ottawa and New Delhi and conveyed that such comments pertaining to the internal affairs of India are "unwarranted and unacceptable".
