Vatican City – Pope Francis has accepted an invitation from Indian Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi to visit India in an evolution of relations with the Vatican.
This came after negotiations failed over a papal visit to the country in 2017, Russia Today reported.
“I had a very warm meeting with Pope Francis. I had the opportunity to discuss a wide range of issues with him and also invited him to visit India,” Moditweeted. In June 2000, late Prime Minister AtalBihari Vajpayee had last visited the Vatican and met the then Pope, His Holiness John Paul II.
During the meeting, the two leaders discussed the Covid-19 pandemic and its consequences for people worldwide. They also discussed the challenge posed by climate change, it said.
The Prime Minister, who is in Italy to attend the G20 Summit, briefed the Pope about the ambitious initiatives taken by India in combating climate change and India’s success in administering one billion Covid-19 vaccination doses.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that New Delhi intends to produce more than 5 billion doses of vaccines against the Corona virus during the next 2022, calling on the World Health Organisation to recognise Indian vaccines as soon as possible.
Speaking at the G20 summit in Rome, Modi said, “India has always taken its global commitments very seriously, and from the G20 podium, I would like to tell you all today that India is preparing to produce More than 5 billion doses of vaccines will be delivered to all countries of the world next year.
Modi explained that this step is aimed at helping to combat the epidemic in the world, stressing that it is necessary for the World Health Organisation to recognise Indian vaccines as soon as possible.
He pointed out that New Delhi has great capabilities in the pharmaceutical industry, and that it has so far supplied more than 150 countries with anti-Corona vaccines, explaining that it was able in a short period of time to produce more than one billion doses of vaccines in India.
