On the occasion of the 72nd Republic Day of India, Indian Ambassador Piyush Srivastava has the following message...
I convey warm greetings and felicitations to all members of the lndian community and friends of lndia in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
“During the last year, the global community has faced a major health challenge of our times – the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Both lndia and Bahrain have successfully dealt with the pandemic.
“In line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision and Government of lndia’s flagship programme ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat (Self-Reliant lndia)’, lndia has, a few days back, undertaken the world’s largest vaccination drive by rolling out two ‘made-in-lndia’ vaccines, Covishield and Covaxin.
“In the first phase, 30 million health and frontline workers will be vaccinated.
“This number will increase to a staggering 300 million in the second phase.
“As a trusted and dependable partner, despite the huge domestic demand, lndia is committed to supplying quality vaccines at affordable rates to friendly countries in this time of crisis.
“During the launch of lndia’s vaccination drive on January 16, 2021, Prime Minister Modi said, ‘We are committed that lndia’s vaccines, our production capacity, serve the interest of the whole humanity’.
“lndia is, because of its strengths in the biopharmaceutical and vaccines domains, one of the major centres in the transnational efforts to counter the pandemic.
“Our two countries have had excellent collaboration in dealing with Covid-19 pandemic – be it the support of the Government of Bahrain for the lndian community, our ‘Vande Bharat Mission’, the ‘Air Bubble’ arrangement between the two countries for facilitating travel of people of both sides, or the supply of medicines and paramedics to the kingdom by lndia.
“This is in line with the deep-rooted civilisational and close ties between lndia and Bahrain, which have further expanded and diversified in recent years.
“The regular high-level political interaction and exchanges continued even during pandemic period.
“His Majesty the King and the Prime Minister of lndia held a telephonic conversation in April 2020.
“External Affairs Minister of lndia Dr S Jaishankar visited the kingdom from November 24 to 25, 2020, to personally convey the Government of India’s condolences on the sad demise of His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, discuss and review various aspects of our bilateral co-operation in diverse sectors and regional and multilateral matters of mutual interest.
“We are looking forward to welcoming Foreign Minister Dr Abdullatif Al Zayani for the next meeting of the lndia-Bahrain High Joint Commission in New Delhi.
“The vibrant and dynamic lndian community in Bahrain constitute a key link in our bilateral relations.
“With their professionalism and high standard of work ethics, they have made a name for themselves in Bahrain, and made significant contributions to the economic development of the kingdom.
“This year’s Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award given by the Government of lndia to Mr Baburajan for his distinguished community service in Bahrain is testimony to this.
“I take this opportunity to convey our gratitude to the leadership and the Government of Bahrain for ensuring the well-being, safety and security of the lndian community in Bahrain, and their exceptional care and support to the community in the difficult times of Covid-19 pandemic.
“I am confident that the deep bonds of friendship and close co-operation between our two countries will grow from strength to strength for the mutual benefit of our two countries and peoples.”
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