New Indian High Commissioner Doraiswami promises vaccine delivery ‘in time’

Vikram Kumar Doraiswami has begun his new assignment in Dhaka as India’s high commissioner with a promise to deliver coronavirus vaccine to Bangladesh ‘in time’ once his country starts production.

He made the promise while submitting his credentials to President Md Abdul Hamid at the Bangabhaban in Dhaka on Thursday, the president’s Press Secretary Md Joynal Abedin told bdnews24.com.

The president hoped that the new high commissioner will try his best to explore possibilities in every sector for further development of relationship between the two countries.

A team of the President Guard Regiment gave him a guard of honour when he arrived in the presidential palace.

Later, while briefing the media, Doraiswami noted that India was working on the vaccines both as producer for international pharmaceutical companies, and as the developer.

 

“As our leadership has said, our external affairs minister has said so very recently and as our foreign secretary said two months ago, we are committed to ensuring the fastest possible partnership with Bangladesh on all aspects of vaccine deployment,” he said.

He reiterated India’s interest in conducting late-stage trials in Bangladesh of a vaccine candidate developed by India.

The trials can be held “at a pace and at a time your government is comfortable with”, Doraiswami said.

“If this works for you in Bangladesh and you are happy with that, then we could step forward to look at partnership in preparing for delivery of vaccines,” he said.

The Indian high commissioner noted that the delivery process is a complicated one because it includes preparing cold chains and qualified workers for preservation and transportation.

 

“As you know in our neighborhood Bangladesh and India are among the two countries that actually have the capacity to produce vaccines. So we will love to do this with our Bangladeshi partners in a way that provides vaccines at the most affordable price point,” he added.

Referring to the visit of Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla in August, Doraiswami said India is committed to deliver on a special “Air Bubble” arrangement to resume aviation “very soon”.

Vikram Kumar Doraiswami, the new Indian high commissioner in Bangladesh, spoke to the media at the Bharat Bhavan in Dhaka’s Gulshan after presenting his credentials to President Md Abdul Hamid on Oct 8, 2020. Photo: Mahmud Zaman Ovi

He also said he will work “as hard as possible” to try and ensure “excellent relationships” between the Border Guard Bangladesh and India’s Border Security Force.

It is not a simple solution to the killings of Bangladeshis in BSF firings, he said, adding, “but it’s an important solution which we all try to find together.”

“Our goal is to try and bring this to an absolute stop, including as our DG of border security forces said when he was here recently to find ways in which maximum restraint is observed and use of the maximum amounts of none lethal equipment,” Doraiswami said.

The new Indian high commissioner arrived in Bangladesh to take up his assignment after crossing the border on foot on Monday amid suspension of air links between the countries due to the coronavirus pandemic.

A career diplomat, Doraiswami had previously served in South Korea and Uzbekistan as the Indian ambassador before taking charge of the Bangladesh mission.