Mr. Chair,

India recognizing the importance of an integrated health security approach to combat future emerging public health emergencies from emerging zones has invested multidisciplinary resources to develop capacity strengthening in the One Health approach. New institutes mandated to address the One Health approach both at national and international levels, are being developed under the Indian Council of Medical Research, the Department of Biotechnology, and a very strong networking of laboratory consortium to approach the problem. The approach has also included better analysis of biosafety and biosecurity gaps which the pandemic has taught us and we have been able to address these issues at a national level through updating existing guidelines. Major highlights of activities include five Sars-Cov-2 vaccine candidate development, operationalizing nineteen clinical trial sites, facilitating the development of six immunoassay and animal experimentation challenge models and facility of augmentation for vaccine production in large scale. The capacity development and infrastructure were also aligned for training international partners in the spirit of Article X. In this, more than 2,500 candidates from neighbouring countries were trained through e-training course modules in multiple sessions in partnerships with WHO, CEPI and the NIH USA. These includes, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bhutan, Gambia, Kenya, Nepal, Oman, Somalia, Viet Nam and Sri Lanka. A framework for very rapid response, regulatory decision-making were also developed to expedite regulatory review process and approvals for COVID-19 vaccines and diagnostics. We stand ready to share these to colleagues and neighbours within Article X window.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.