Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar is in New York for meetings with UN chief Antonio Guterres and other officials from the organisation over the next two days following which he will travel to Washington DC to meet US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and representatives of US industry to discuss issues ranging from Covid-19 vaccine supplies to easing trade barriers including short-term waiver of intellectual property rights.

“The External Affairs Minister will have his set of meetings with the UN over Monday and Tuesday and subsequently, Wednesday onwards, he will meet the political leadership in Washington DC and hold meetings with business and industry representatives,” a source keeping track of the visit told BusinessLine.

Jaishankar’s meetings with Guterres is important for India, which, together with South Africa, has been pushing for a temporary waiver of intellectual property norms on medical products at the WTO, as the UN chief has been vocal in his efforts to promote vaccine equity to ensure that poorer countries too get their share of Covid-19 vaccines. Jaishankar is also expected to take up the issue of UN reforms.

“Privilege to receive External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar on his first visit to New York after India entered the UN Security Council on 1 January 2021,” India’s Permanent Representative to the UN TS Tirumurti tweeted on Monday. Jaishankar is in the US for a five-day official visit.

In Washington DC, Jaishankar is expected to hold detailed discussion with Blinken on vaccine cooperation and also seek more information on US plans of exporting Covid-19 vaccines and supply of critical raw materials to India for manufacturing vaccines, the source said. New Delhi, which is fighting a second severe wave of the pandemic, is trying to augment vaccine availability in the country by stepping up manufacturing and also sourcing more vaccines from other nations.

The External Affairs Minister, in his meeting with political leaders in the US, may also take up the proposal of temporary waiver of TRIPS at the WTO and try and persuade the US to support the waiver not just for vaccines but the whole range of Covid-19 related medicines and medical products.

He is also expected to discuss trade related issues, including opportunities and barriers, with both the US political leadership and industry leaders, the source said. Washington is not only continuing with the unilateral penal duties on Indian steel imposed by the Trump regime but the US Trade Representative has also threatened to impose retaliatory duties on a range of Indian imports to punish India for making non-resident e-commerce companies pay digital services tax.

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