Drug trafficking, extremism, terrorism global issues; India, US need to work together: Vijay Chauthaiwale

New Delhi: The day Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached the US on a three-day visit, BJP’s Foreign Affairs Department In-charge Vijay Chauthaiwale stressed the need for the two countries to work together.

Highlighting the global issues such as drug trafficking, global extremism and terrorism, particularly in the context of Afghanistan, Chauthaiwale said that these challenges were not just before India but for the entire world. He called for close cooperation between India and the US to deal with these issues.

“Issues like drug trafficking, global extremism, terrorism (in Afghanistan) are challenging not just for India, but for the entire world. Therefore, it's important for both India and US to work in tandem on these issues,” Chauthaiwale was quoted as saying by ANI.

The BJP leader further underlined the importance of the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines around the world by India and the US. He hailed India’s recent decision to resume its “vaccine maître” initiative.

“In an important development pertaining to COVID, India has decided to resume vaccine export, while America announced to make 500 million vaccine doses available for free to the world.” He said.

Just a day ago, PM Modi, before leaving for the US, called for international cooperation in recognising the vaccine certificates.

He asserted that international travel should be made easier through mutual recognition of COVID-19 vaccine certificates.

In a video message at the Global COVID Summit hosted by US President Joe Biden, PM Modi also said that India is ramping up production capacity of existing vaccines, pointing out that the supply chains of raw materials must be kept open so that vaccine supplies to other countries can be resumed.