Ulaanbaatar/MONTSAME/. Prime Minister of India, H.E. Mr Narendra Modi, interacted with the Leaders of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) on March 15 over Video Conference to discuss coronavirus situation and for evolving a regional coordinated approach for preventing and combating COVID-19 pandemic.

This Video Conference was attended by HE Mr Ashraf Ghani, President of Afghanistan, HE Mr Gotabaya Rajapaksa, President of Sri Lanka, HE Mr Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, President of Maldives, HE Mrs Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of Bangladesh, HE Mr KP Sharma Oli, Prime Minister of Nepal, HE Dr Lotay Tshering, Prime Minister of Bhutan and HE Mr Doctor Zafar Mirza, Minister of State for Health of the Republic of Pakistan and the Secretary General of SAARC Secretariat.

In his remarks, Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi highlighted the imperative need for adopting a common strategy in the South Asian region for preventing and combating the unprecedented health emergency caused by COVID 19 pandemic. In the spirit of collaboration, Prime Minister Modi proposed

-Creation of a COVID-19 Emergency Fund, based on voluntary contributions from all the countries, to which India made an initial contribution of US $10 million. The newly created fund could be used by any of the partner countries to meet the cost of immediate actions.

-Formation of a Rapid Response Team (RRT) of doctors and specialists, along with testing kits and other equipment, which would remain on stand-by, to be placed at the disposal of the countries, if required.

-Arranging online training capsules for the emergency response teams of the neighbouring countries and sharing of software behind India’s Integrated Disease Surveillance Portal to help trace possible virus carriers.

-Use of the existing mechanisms like SAARC Disaster Management Centre to pool in best practices.

-Creation of a common Research Platform to coordinate research on controlling epidemic diseases within the South Asian region.

-Further brainstorming by experts from SAARC region on the long-term economic consequences of COVID-19, and how best to insulate internal trade and local value chains from its impact.

Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi shared information with participating SAARC leaders about the proactive steps taken by the Government of India for combating Covid-19 including a graded response mechanism, screening those entering the country, public awareness campaigns on TV, print and social media, special efforts to reach out to the vulnerable groups, ramping up of diagnostic facilities and developing protocols for each stage of managing the pandemic.

Prime Minister also mentioned that so far India has successfully evacuated 1400 Indian nationals from different countries along with some citizens of the neighbouring countries in accordance with the “neighbourhood first policy” and reiterated the resolve to battle together against Covid-19 stressing that neighbourhood collaboration by SAARC countries should serve as a model for the world.

Source:  The Embassy of India in Mongolia