US, India and Five Other Nations Talk Post-Covid Trade

NEW DELHI: The United States reached out to India and five other countries on Monday to kickstart a discussion on how to move the global economy forward in the wake of Covid-19 and to find ways to cut dependence on China. Israel, Brazil, Australia, Japan and South Korea were part of the videoconference and certain other like-minded countries may join the discussion at a later stage, according to people aware of the matter. Many of these countries share close trade and commercial links with China.

The US state department said the foreign ministers of the seven countries discussed the importance of international cooperation, transparency and accountability in “combating the pandemic and in addressing its causes”. The US has maintained that China suppressed early information about the outbreak of coronavirus when it was first detected in Wuhan and has consistently downplayed its risks.

External affairs minister S Jaishankar tweeted that the videoconference covered pandemic response, global health management, medical cooperation, economic recovery and travel norms. “Look forward to continuing this engagement,” he said.

US secretary of state Mike Pompeo had earlier referred to Monday’s videoconference on April 29 when he said the US government was working with Australia, India, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and Vietnam to “move the global economy forward” and explore restructuring “supply chains to prevent something like this from ever happening again”.

The participants in the videoconference included Australia’s Marise Payne, Israel’s Yisrael Katz, Japan’s Taro Kono, Brazil’s Ernesto Araújo and South Korea’s Kang Kyung-wha. Each country shared its experience in handling the outbreak and how different countries could help each other.

Source: ET

Image Courtesy: IEEP