India Ready to Supply Iran with COVID Vaccines


TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The foreign minister of India expressed his country’s readiness to immediately supply Iran with shipments of coronavirus vaccine which New Delhi has already undertaken to deliver.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar held a meeting on the sidelines of the 76th session of the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday.

The two diplomats reviewed the bilateral relations and exchanged views on regional and international issues in the meeting. They also emphasized the need to increase consultations to promote trade relations and finalize the ongoing negotiations on vaccine supply.

Jaishankar expressed the Indian government’s readiness to immediately send the COVID vaccines over which the two sides are negotiating. India has already promised to send the vaccines to Iran.

The Indian foreign minister also congratulated Iran on becoming a permanent member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and invited his Iranian counterpart to visit New Delhi.

For his part, the Iranian foreign minister announced Tehran’s readiness to promote cooperation and hold joint consular and economic commissions with India.

He also said the preferential trade agreement between the two countries and their cooperation in the field of energy must be finalized.

Amirabdollahian and Jaishankar also discussed the situation in Afghanistan, stressing the need for the realization of the Afghan people’s will and the formation of an inclusive government without foreign interference.