Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai Discuss Measures To Enhance COVID Vaccine Production

Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal on Friday (14 May) had a virtual meeting with United States Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Chi Tai.

The meeting focused on increasing vaccine availability in an inclusive and equitable manner to combat the Global pandemic caused by Covid-19.

The proposal of India on waiver of certain TRIPS (Trade-Releated Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) provisions to increase global vaccine production in order to take on the challenge of vaccinating the poorest of the poor and save lives was also discussed, a Miinistry of Commerce statement said.

The minister mentioned the supply chains for the vaccine manufacturers must be kept open and unbridled as the entire world is in dire need of vaccines.

Both sides agreed to work towards the common resolve of increasing vaccine availability and saving lives.

The development comes days after US announced its support for India-South Africa led proposal at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to waive off intellectual property protections on Covid vaccines.