'India committed to make coronavirus vaccines available at global level'

India is committed to ensuring availability of coronavirus vaccines at the global level President Ram Nath Kovind said on Friday noting that the world is witnessing the countrys sincerity in discharging its responsibilities even during the pandemicIn his address to a joint sitting of Parliament on the opening day of the Budget session Kovind said as India forges ahead in the world it has to be prepared to fulfill commitments that are commensurate with its new identityThe President said India has supplied essential medicines to more than 150 countries in addition to fulfilling its domestic requirements following the pandemicIndia has so far gifted over 55 lakh doses of coronavirus vaccines to its neighbouring countries and several of those in its extended neighbourhood the Ministry of External Affairs MEA said on ThursdayThe world is witness to the sincerity with which India has been discharging its global responsibilities even during the Coconavirus pandemic Living up to the spirit of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakkam the world is one family India has in addition to fulfilling its domestic requirements supplied essential medicines to more than 150 countries the President saidIndia is committed to ensuring the availability of vaccine at the global level he addedIndia has sent COVID19 vaccines to several countries including Bhutan Maldives Bangladesh Nepal Myanmar Seychelles Sri Lanka and MauritiusIndia is one of the worlds biggest drugmakers and an increasing number of countries have already approached it for procuring the coronavirus vaccinesKovind also mentioned about the Vande Bharat evacuation mission under which about 50 lakh Indians were evacuated from abroad in view of the coronavirus pandemicIt is a matter of pride for the country that Vande Bharat Mission which is the biggest mission of its kind organised anywhere in the world is being hailed universally he saidIn addition to evacuating about 50 lakh Indians from various parts of the world India has also enabled safe passage for more than 1 lakh foreign nationals to their respective countries he notedThe President said despite the impediments caused by pandemic India has strengthened its contacts and relations with other countries adding that it further bolstered global cooperation by holding a large number of apex summits and multilateral events during the periodFor the eighth time this year India has joined the Security Council as a nonpermanent member by garnering historic international support India has also assumed the presidency of BRICS for 2021 he saidBRICS is a grouping of Brazil Russia India China and South AfricaThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever