NEW DELHI, Feb 8: A visiting delegation from the United Kingdom led by its secretary of state for international trade and president of the board of trade, Elizabeth Truss, visited the world’s biggest vaccine manufacturer, Serum Institute of India (SII) in Pune on Monday to explore the possibilities of further enhancing ties between the two countries in healthcare field.
Truss met the CEO of Serum Institute Adar Poonawala during the visit.
“It was an honour to have the Secretary of State for International Trade, UK, @trusslizand a delegation visit our headquarters@SerumInstIndia. We discussed how to further enhance the existing relationship between India and the UK on manufacturing and innovation in the healthcare space,” tweeted Poonawala.
Talking about the visit to SII, Truss said the SII would produce more than a billion doses of the UK developed Oxford vaccine, helping to save lives in the country and beyond.
“I am visiting the Serum Institute during my time in India, which is producing more than a billion doses of the UK-developed Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine. This will save lives across India and beyond its borders,” Truss had said.
After concluding her visit to the Pune facility, Truss tweeted that SII will also be producing 1.3 billion doses for the COVAX alliance. The UK has committed £548 million as aid to the alliance which aims to help distribute one billion doses of coronavirus vaccines to 92 developing countries in this year.
Truss emphasised on India and UK’s vaccine collaboration, adding that the ties between the two countries can only get stronger from here on. “From supplying each other with goods to collaborating over vaccines, our partnership can only get stronger from now on,” Truss said.
The delegation, which is on a four-day visit to India, had on Saturday held discussions on promoting bilateral trade and investments between the two countries, an official statement issued by the union commerce ministry on Monday said.
The talks were held between Minister for Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal, with his UK counterpart Truss. Both the ministers agreed to deepen trade cooperation between the two countries through an Enhanced Trade Partnership (ETP).
“They also reviewed progress in removing market access barriers on both sides and ongoing cooperation in response to Covid-19,” the commerce ministry said.
It added that the two sides reviewed the ongoing engagements between the two sides for an ETP to develop a roadmap that would lead to a potential comprehensive FTA (free trade agreement), including considerations on an interim pact on a preferential basis.
“In a significant step forward, the ministers agreed that this partnership would formally be launched during the visit of the UK Prime Minister to India, later this year,” it said.
The two countries also expressed commitment to re-launch the UK-India CEO Forum and agreed on the Forum’s meeting at the earliest.
(Manas Dasgupta)