Apart from the medical fraternity, Indian diplomats are also on their toes because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Even as China tries to convert this crisis into a diplomatic opportunity to make deeper forays into the countries around India, New Delhi is also working round the clock to see that Beijing is not successful in that motive.
With the diplomatic offensive related to Covid-19 on top priority, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has decided to have a virtual meeting with his counterpart in Bangladesh, A.K. Abdul Momen. The meeting will take place in September. Sources told The Daily Guardian that the main agenda of the meeting between the foreign ministers of both the countries will be the joint fight against the corona crisis.
According to sources, while talking to Momen, Indian foreign minister will actually be trying to foil Chinese bid to push its agenda in Bangladesh on the pretext of trial for coronavirus vaccines and other related initiatives that are underway in Beijing. Bury the irritants of the past, and go ahead with positive initiatives will be the message Jaishankar will be giving to his counterpart in Dhaka, say sources.
This will be the fresh round of the Joint Consultative Commission (JCC). The last round of the JCC was held in February 2019. The JCC is the highest form of bilateral mechanism between India and Bangladesh, co-chaired by the foreign ministers. This mechanism entails all aspects of the relationship from business to security collaboration.
Sources said that the discussions in the upcoming JCC will mostly be around Covid cooperation. With the pandemic going to dominate the discussion between both the foreign ministers, India will have an opportunity to keep focus on “coronavirus vaccine” diplomacy. This round of consultation will add further impetus to Indian ‘corona vaccine’ diplomacy which had been set in motion by foreign secretary Harsh Wardhan Shringla during his visit to Dhaka last month. “India will supply Covid vaccine to Bangladesh on a priority basis as and when it gets the nod and mass production starts. “Bangladesh is always our priority,” Shringala had emphasised.
As a matter of fact, India has been closely watching how China was using the corona crisis to get much closer to Bangladesh, dangling the carrot of ‘coronavirus vaccine’ before it once it gets ready in Beijing. For this, China has been asking Bangladesh to allow it to conduct human trials among its citizens.
Through its diplomatic channel, however, India tried to persuade Bangladesh to refuse Chinese offer to conduct human trials of their covid vaccine among its citizens. In a bid to overtake India, China had asked its pharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech Limited to reach out to Bangladesh saying that it will give its vaccine to Dhaka on priority by the end of this year.
Despite India’s persuasion, Bangladesh approved a late-stage trial of the vaccine by the Chinese pharmaceutical firm. As a result of this, India has accelerated its efforts to upstage China on this front. What, however, gives Indian diplomats relief is the fact that Bangladesh has, at the same time, welcomed a tie-up that ensures its local company Beximco Pharmaceuticals gets prioritised vaccine supplies from the Serum Institute of India. Now, the Government of India has asked the officials concerned to ensure that Bangladesh is taken into confidence as far as coronavirus initiatives are concerned.
Even as China is vying with India to reach out to Bangladesh with an offer of vaccines, Jaishankar will take it up with his counterpart in Bangladesh during the upcoming meeting, says a source. Since the entire meeting will be focused majorly on the corona issue, Jaishankar will have an ample opportunity to push India’s diplomatic agenda.
Sources said that Jaishankar and Momen had their last interaction in August 2019 when the ties between India and Bangladesh had taken a hit due to the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam. But India has done a lot to mend ties with Bangladesh ever since. According to sources, Vikram Doraiswami will soon be sent to Dhaka as India’s new high commissioner.