Netherlands’ ambassador to India Marten van den Berg on Thursday stated each the nations need to collaborate on the fronts of healthcare in addition to commerce. He additional revealed that the European nation is working intently with India’s Serum Institute of India (SII) on analysis and growth of vaccines.
In an unique dialog with News18 on whether or not the world ought to take a look at dropping patent waivers, he stated, “We all very a lot share the aim of vaccinating everybody. We are all collectively in the identical boat. So the one technique to get out of it safely is getting everybody on the earth vaccinated. But the dialogue on the vaccinations is way broader and extra advanced. So the quick time period is admittedly about growing manufacturing. I don’t suppose {that a} patent freeze will contribute within the quick time period. There must be extra concentrate on eradicating import limitations for each resilient provide chains.”
In a significant move, the five-nation grouping BRICS on Tuesday supported a proposal by India and South Africa to temporarily waive patents on Covid-19 vaccines and called for their equitable access and distribution while ensuring transparency on prices.
Ways to deal with the coronavirus pandemic, including sharing technology to boost production of vaccines and improving supply chains for medical products, figured prominently at a virtual meeting of the foreign ministers of the BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa) countries.
The ambassador also spoke about why it is important that India and Netherlands work closely on vaccine development.
“Now, first, it’s very important that we scale up our production. India is very important in terms of producer manufacturing of vaccines. So together EU and India, for example, are going to strengthen the resilience of supply chains. So that’s very important in terms of collaborating in trade policies on the longer run. I think it’s very important to do collaborative research on vaccine development,” he stated.
On India and EU lastly resuming free commerce pact talks after 8 years this week, he stated, “I believe it was crucial that the EU and India agreed to once more begin negotiations on a commerce settlement, but additionally a separate observe on an funding settlement and likewise on geographical indications. And additionally we’re a giant commerce associate with India and we’re a giant investor in India. So for us, it’s crucial that EU and India begin negotiations as a result of we all know that commerce agreements actually enhance commerce relationships and funding agreements actually has a optimistic contribution to investments. And there are a variety of Dutch firms who’re already investing, but additionally wish to broaden funding in India with the funding agreements.”
The Dutch ambassador said that they are working closely with India’s Serum Institute of India and working together towards vaccine research.
“The Serum Institute, of course, very well known in India, also has a resource base in the Netherlands. So we have a very close collaboration. And also we’re looking for increasing our collaborative research. It is a very important topic in collaboration between the Netherlands and India. And I think it’s key address the challenges of conflicts. Besides health, we do see a lot of other areas where we have close collaboration between the Netherlands and India, for example, water, agriculture, energy and climate,” added.
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