'Good to see Pak joining regional initiatives': India on Islamabad inviting SAARC nations for COVID-19 meet
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Recalling India's move on SAARC for a regional strategy, New Delhi appreciated Pakistan finally showing enthusiasm for regional calls on COVID-19. Pakistan on Thursday hosted a SAARC meet on the coronavirus pandemic and had also invited India along with other grouping members.
India was represented by Director General of Health Services, assisted by experts from All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). Most SAARC countries were represented at the official level.
During the video conference, Pakistan proposed to activate the SAARC Technical Committee on Health and Population Activities for greater coordination among SAARC Member-States in the context of combating the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Pakistan's invitation to SAARC nations, sources in India said, "Good to see Pak has realized the merit of regional cooperation and joining the initiative."
Last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called for SAARC video conference which was attended by leaders of all member-state, with Pakistan sending its junior advisor. On India's initiative, a SAARC emergency fund has been established and "meaningful talks of health and commerce minister" have happened.
Pakistan did not participate in SAARC agriculture meet on COVID citing non-involvement of SAARC secretariat even though rest of the countries participated.
SAARC emergency fund has a corpus of US $18 million with India's contribution been US $10 million.
In a statement issued after the video conference on Thursday, the Ministry of External Affairs said, this event followed India’s earlier initiative of hosting a video conference of senior health professionals on 26 March 2020, which had "proved to be a productive and outcome-oriented exercise to promote greater regional cooperation against COVID-19."
The virtual meeting was an occasion for India to reaffirm its strong commitment towards greater sharing of knowledge, expertise and best practices in the joint fight against COVID-19 for the larger regional good, the MEA said.
"On India’s part, building on the briefing made at the March 26 video conference, a detailed account was presented on India’s comprehensive response to the current COVID-19 situation, including India stepping up production of essential materials and medicines and enhancing capabilities in research on drugs and vaccines. At the meeting, India also highlighted the successful use and promising future of new and innovative technology-based solutions such as the mobile app ‘Aarogya Setu’ to maximize community outreach and intervention," the MEA further said.
"The sentiment of cooperation and solidarity in the region intensified by Prime Minister Modi’s video conference with SAARC Leaders on 15 March 2020 has led to much progress in the fight against COVID-19 through a series of concrete follow-up measures aimed at easing the suffering of the people in the region. The setting up and use of SAARC COVID-19 Emergency Fund, creation of a dedicated website developed by SAARC Disaster Management Centre (SDMC-IU) Gandhinagar and promotion of stand-alone networking of health and trade officials for their interaction in real time are among the visible practical steps," it said.
The ministry said that India has developed an electronic platform, namely ‘SAARC COVID19 Information Exchange Platform (COINEX)’ for use by all SAARC countries. As the next major step, the platform will be launched for exchange of specialized information and tools on COVID-19 among designated health professionals in the region, it said, adding that COINEX will also offer and facilitate various online training resources and e-learning modules.
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