US govt, businesses and people of America working together to provide COVID relief to India: Sullivan

Washington, May 7 (PTI) The US government, corporates and the people of America are working together to provide COVID-19 relief to India, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has said.

Sullivan made the remarks after joining the first meeting of the Global Task Force on Pandemic Response.

"Our people, our businesses, and our entire government are working together to provide COVID-19 relief for the people of India — and we will continue our efforts to help around the world," he said on Thursday.

More than 45 top American companies and its CEOs have joined the task force created by the US Chambers of Commerce and Business Roundtable in association with US-India Business Council and US-India Strategic and Partnership Forum.

Working in close coordination with the Indian government, the task force has so far announced to send 25,000 oxygen concentrators and 1,000 ventilators.

US companies like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Deloitte, Walmart, Boeing and Mastercard among others announced major assistance to India.

So far, the USAID has sent six planes carrying health supplies to India.

The Biden administration has promised USD100 million aid to India. This number is expected to go up in coming weeks, as President Joe Biden reviews it.

In addition, there has been overwhelming support from the Indian-Americans.

Sewa International USA, a non-profit body, has so far raised more than USD 10 million.

"The administration can count on the US Chamber, Business Roundtable, and this coalition of companies to help address COVID-19 surges around the world," Suzanne Clark, president and CEO of US Chambers of Commerce, said after the meeting of the task force.

"This is a global crisis. If the virus is in one environment, and then mutates, it will impact everybody. No one is safe unless all of us are safe. So, we have to step up. This is the right thing to do. It is also the right thing to do for each of us as business leaders," Deloitte CEO Punit Renjen told PTI.

The speed with which the COVID crisis in India has escalated and ravaged the entire country, has created a sense of urgency in the corporate community, Nisha Desai Biswal, president of US India Business Council told PTI a day earlier.

"We have not seen in any prior instance this kind of an effort to create a unified coordinated structure," she said. PTI LKJ SNE