India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi today completed a round of individual consultations with leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council, GCC, focusing on the coronavirus pandemic and the possibility of plurilateral cooperation in fighting COVID-19.
All of GCC was covered in the ambit of India’s desire to work together with the Gulf region when Modi had his final conversation in the series today with Sultan Haitham bin Tariq Al Said of Oman.
A common thread in Modi’s conversations with all the leaders in the Gulf countries was “the health and economic challenges posed by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and the steps being taken by their respective countries to respond to them,” according to a press release by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, MEA.
The Sultan of Oman “assured Modi about the safety and well-being of the Indian community in Oman in the present situation. The Sultan also thanked the Prime Minister for the recent support provided by the government of India to Omani citizens in India,” according to the press release.
As reported by the Emirates News Agency, WAM, on 26th March, Modi and His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, reviewed developments related to the COVID-19 pandemic and the international efforts to contain its repercussions.
Modi set the ball rolling in his outreach to the Gulf when he telephoned the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, last month and briefed him on an Indian initiative to have a video conference among heads of state or government of South Asian countries to discuss the coronavirus pandemic.
It was during this conversation that the idea of a similar exercise at the level of G20 leaders, under the aegis of Saudi Arabia as the Chair of G20, was mooted. The virtual G20 meeting subsequently took place in the last week in March.
