Sent med supplies while some nations took advantage of COVID-19: India

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Without naming Pakistan and China, India on Monday said some countries are "busy" taking undue advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic by increasing support to terrorism or to adopt aggressive policies, New Delhi has focussed on immediately extending medical assistance and supporting countries vulnerable to the pandemic.

The remarks by India's Permanent Representative to the UN TS Tirumurti came while addressing the 3rd anniversary of the India-UN Development Partnership Fund at India's Permanent Mission to the UN.

The Fund, established in 2017, has so far supported 59 projects in 48 countries, through $47.8 million in contributions from a $150 million multi-year pledge by India.

"At a time when some countries are busy taking undue advantage of COVID-19 to spread divisive disinformation or to enhance even more their support to terrorism or to adopt aggressive policies, India's answer has been to immediately come to the support of countries vulnerable to the pandemic, rush urgently needed medical supplies, strengthen national health capacities and mitigate the diverse socio-economic impact of this crisis," Mr Tirumurti said.

He told the virtual commemoration that India has through history prioritised cooperation over conflict, co-existence over competition, sharing over receiving, plurality over hegemony and inclusivity and democracy over exclusion and control. "This has underpinned our approach to development cooperation as well."

Noting that India has always remained a strong votary of non-earmarked resources for development in multilateral institutions, Mr Tirumurti said sustainability has been the focus of India's developmental efforts.

"India shuns any effort to impose conditionalities or to create indebtedness or to constrain developmental space for developing countries. In this quest, the Fund has successfully focussed on… Africa and other developing countries and regions and covers a diverse set of thematic areas," he said, reiterating India's full commitment to realising the true potential of this remarkable partnership for peace, prosperity and development.

He said that in the context of India, the term South-North cooperation is more appropriate since, through history, the country has always shared with others its knowledge in science, mathematics, astronomy, the arts and has later gone on to share the "unique tools of our freedom struggle to inspire countries to free themselves of colonialism and, closer to our times, shared the tools for human resource development, development partnership and nation building."

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