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By Chinelo Chikelu, Abuja
India has said it will begin rollout of its locally produced vaccines Covaxin (by Bharat Biotech) and Covishield (by Serum Institute India) which recently received government regulatory agency approval, next week.
High Commissioner of Nigeria to India, Mr. Abhay Thakur who made the announcement at the commemoration of the 16th anniversary of Parvati Bhartiya Diwas, Indian diasporas, said India is ready to discuss terms of procurement with the Nigerian government pending Nigeria’s completion of the registration process and the approval of her regulatory authorities.
Thakur noted that India has always shown great performance in the area of vaccination provision for Africa such as the anti-AIDS drugs.
India, he said, is happy to collaborate with Nigeria in the procurement of the vaccine “on either concessional terms or on any other needs that may be projected by the Nigerian government.”
On whether the vaccine will be made available in the form of donations or sales to Nigeria, Thakur reiterated that such details will be discussed with the Nigerian government after the approval process.
“Until the approval process is done, it will be premature of me to comment,” however, he said, “we have a special relationship with Africa, and Nigeria in particular, and in all that we do, we will be keeping the requirement’s mind.”
Addressing the impact of the pandemic on the contributions of Indians in diaspora, Thakur said while the pandemic has impacted India’s GDP growth, it is too early to ascertain the level of impact on remittances until the end of India’s fiscal year which runs from April to March.
He, however, noted that despite the challenges thrown by COVID-19, there have been positive impacts from India’s diasporas in various fields as agriculture, global medicine, IT among others.
“There were challenges but we had a number of bilateral interactions and business interactions and they can continue. In many ways, I would say that the pandemic has shown that we are resilient partners,” concluded the high commissioner.
By Chinelo Chikelu, Abuja
India has said it will begin rollout of its locally produced vaccines Covaxin (by Bharat Biotech) and Covishield (by Serum Institute India) which recently received government regulatory agency approval, next week.
High Commissioner of Nigeria to India, Mr. Abhay Thakur who made the announcement at the commemoration of the 16th anniversary of Parvati Bhartiya Diwas, Indian diasporas, said India is ready to discuss terms of procurement with the Nigerian government pending Nigeria’s completion of the registration process and the approval of her regulatory authorities.
Thakur noted that India has always shown great performance in the area of vaccination provision for Africa such as the anti-AIDS drugs.
India, he said, is happy to collaborate with Nigeria in the procurement of the vaccine “on either concessional terms or on any other needs that may be projected by the Nigerian government.”
On whether the vaccine will be made available in the form of donations or sales to Nigeria, Thakur reiterated that such details will be discussed with the Nigerian government after the approval process.
“Until the approval process is done, it will be premature of me to comment,” however, he said, “we have a special relationship with Africa, and Nigeria in particular, and in all that we do, we will be keeping the requirement’s mind.”
Addressing the impact of the pandemic on the contributions of Indians in diaspora, Thakur said while the pandemic has impacted India’s GDP growth, it is too early to ascertain the level of impact on remittances until the end of India’s fiscal year which runs from April to March.
He, however, noted that despite the challenges thrown by COVID-19, there have been positive impacts from India’s diasporas in various fields as agriculture, global medicine, IT among others.
“There were challenges but we had a number of bilateral interactions and business interactions and they can continue. In many ways, I would say that the pandemic has shown that we are resilient partners,” concluded the high commissioner.
