New Delhi: India has intensified its engagement with countries such as the US, Australia, South Korea, Japan, New Zealand and Vietnam under the Indo-Pacific strategic setup in an effort to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
Discussions among the countries since 20 March have not just centred on working towards collective safety, but also on overhauling international institutions to reflect “contemporary realities”, sources told ThePrint.
Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla has been a part of weekly telephonic conversations among the Indo-Pacific countries that have been taking place since 20 March. The practice was initiated by US Deputy Secretary of State Steven Biegun.
According to official sources, these conversations have brought out the need for real-time communication among partner countries on evolving challenges and learning from each other’s best practices. There is a general consensus, the sources said, that no one can be safe and secure unless all are safe and secure.
The countries have also stressed the “need for a new template of globalisation and for international institutions to reflect contemporary realities”, the sources added.