Justin Trudeau dials PM Modi, days after facing questions over procuring COVID vaccines

Days after Canada's Justin Trudeau government faced questions over reaching out to India to procure COVID-19 vaccines, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday received a call from his Canadian counterpart. Taking to Twitter, PM Modi said that he had a telephonic conversation with the Canadian PM and assured him that India would do 'its best' to facilitate supplies of the COVID-19 vaccine sought. The Indian Prime Minister also said that duo agreed on continuing to collaborate on important issues like climate change and the global economic recovery. 

"Expressing his appreciation, Prime Minister Trudeau said that if the world managed to conquer COVID-19, it would be significantly because of India's tremendous pharmaceutical capacity, and Prime Minister Modi's leadership in sharing this capacity with the world.  Prime Minister thanked PM Trudeau for his sentiments," a press release from the PMO read.

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PM Modi's contact with his Canadian counterpart establishes the smooth diplomatic relations between New Delhi and Ottawa which had been hit briefly after Trudeau administration's meddling into the farmers' protest. The Trudeau government had said that Canada will always be there to defend the rights of peaceful protests, and expressed concern over the situation inviting a stern response from India's Ministry of External Affairs. S Jaishankar-led ministry had then said that such 'comments pertaining to the "internal affairs of India are unwarranted, unacceptable and would damage India-Canada bilateral relations.'

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India's vaccine maitri initiative

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's assurance to Trudeau over the supply of COVID vaccines also marks the extension of India's 'Vaccine Maitri Initiative'. Under the initiative, India has already started exporting COVID-19 vaccines manufactured in India to several countries across the globe upholding the country's stature as 'the World's Pharma'. So far, India has exported the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII) and Bharat Biotech's indigenous vaccine to more than 15 countries while another 25 countries are queued at different levels to receive supplies. These include Brazil, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Bhutan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.

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Both the vaccines are already in circulation in India with healthcare workers receiving the jabs in the first phase of the immunization drive. On Thursday, COVID-19 vaccines from India landed in Dominica with the Prime Minister of the Caribbean country saying that he did not imagine that the prayers of his country would be answered so swiftly. Sharing a picture of a consignment reaching Dominica, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar described it as "a gesture of goodwill and an example of support".

'Have you phoned Prime Minister Modi?'

Earlier, a  video of a Canadian Opposition lawmaker quizzing sitting Procurement Minister Anita Anand over contacting India to procure Covid-19 vaccines for the country is being widely shared on social media. Michelle Rempel Garner, a Conservative MP and Shadow Minister for Health, in a meeting of the standing committee on health asked if the Trudeau government had reached out to Prime Minister Modi for vaccines. Garner asked, “Has the minister or Prime Minister phoned Prime Minister Modi to ask if we could get vaccines from India?” Anand, clearly caught off-guard responded, "Well, thank you for that question. I am in regular communication with organisations and countries around the world to secure doses of additional vaccines."

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