Central Asia Summit: Leaders for non-discriminatory intl response to global health

New Delhi, Jan 27: India and five Central Asian countries on Thursday called for a transparent, effective and non-discriminatory international response to global health challenges, including pandemics while agreeing that early mutual recognition of Covid vaccination certificates will facilitate easier travel of citizens of their countries.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday hosted the first India-Central Asia Summit in a virtual format. The virtual summit saw the participation of five presidents -- Kazakhstan's Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Uzbekistan's Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Emomali Rahmon of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan's Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow and Sadyr Japarov of Kyrgyz Republic.

The Delhi Declaration issued after the summit said the leaders noted the growing interdependence of countries in an inter-connected world. They called for a timely, transparent, effective and non-discriminatory international response to global health challenges including pandemics, for ensuring an equitable and affordable access to medicines and critical health supplies.

The leaders expressed mutual gratitude to each other for timely assistance during the pandemic and agreed that early mutual recognition of Covid vaccination certificates will facilitate easier travel of citizens of their countries, the declaration said.

They also expressed solidarity with those who have been negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and called for collective efforts in the fight against the pandemic. "They stressed the importance of extensive vaccination, vaccine supply, transfer of technology, development of local production capacities, promotion of supply chains for medical products, and ensuring price transparency," according to the declaration.

Taking note of the approach "One Earth One Health” presented by Prime Minister Modi, they emphasised that the post-pandemic world requires diversified global supply chains that are based on trust, resilience and reliability. PTI