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Updated July 21st, 2022 at 15:18 IST

Antony Blinken chairs Supply Chain Ministerial Forum, hails India's aid to US during COVID

Antony Blinken hailed India's cooperation in providing medicine and other essential supplies to the US during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Reported by: Anurag Roushan
Antony Blinken
Image: AP/PTI | Image:self
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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo convened a two-day 'Supply Chain Ministerial Forum' virtually on July 19-20. Addressing the forum, Blinken hailed India's cooperation in providing medicine and other essential supplies to the US during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. "Back in 2020 when COVID-19 was hitting Americans the hardest, India provided medicine and vital supplies to the United States for our industries under strain.  When India was facing a massive surge from the Delta variant the following year, we used those same supply chains to provide medical oxygen, therapeutics, and other aid to save lives," he remarked in a press release. 

Since the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic, the US and India have also partnered to bolster the global response to COVID-19. According to the press release, the US and a number of its partners came together as part of the nation's continuous efforts to minimize and stop short-term supply chain disruptions and to collaborate in to increase long-term supply chain resiliency. Notably, the 'Supply Chain Ministerial Forum' is being seen as Biden Administration's most recent instance to reduce supply chain disruptions and lower costs for American households through diplomacy.

Blinken calls for a resilient supply chain

According to the US State Department, the supply networks enabled the country to provide more than 565 million doses of free COVID-19 vaccines across the world. "We are using supply chains to get food, fertilizer, and lifesaving aid to people in response to the growing global food security crisis exacerbated by Russia’s aggression against Ukraine," Blinken stated. He also stressed the need for a resilient supply chain, saying it is less prone to cyber-attacks by governments or other actors.

US State Dept played a key role to ensure smooth supply chain during COVID: Blinken

"A resilient supply chain is sustainable, adhering to labour and environmental standards that we have agreed on because it’s consistent with our shared values. "As we have seen, governments that ignore these benchmarks tend to be less reliable partners, and because in 2022 any supply chain that’s not environmentally sustainable won’t be durable," Blinken noted, as per the press release. He went on to say that the State Department was a key player in the government's wide effort to deliver COVID-19 test kits across the globe during the Omicron variant surge.  According to Blinken, the responsibility included international freight shipments as well as enticing foreign investment into the United States to make test kits.

Image: AP/PTI

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Published July 21st, 2022 at 15:18 IST

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