1 million USD dispersed to SAARC nations under Emergency COVID-19 Funds

On March 19, 2020, the Ministry of External Affairs announced that 1 million USD has been dispersed towards the Emergency COVID-19 funds. The fund was set up PM Modi during a video conference recently. Walking on the foot steps of India, Saudi Arabia had recently initiated similar conference among G20 countries to fight COVID-19.

Highlights

India had set up 10 million USD funds to fight against Corona Virus at the SAARC video Conference. India has also dispatched supplies such as testing equipment, sanitizers and other medical requests of Maldives and Bhutan.

Significance

It is important for India to take lead role and strengthen its ties with the SAARC nations. This is because India currently holds a trade surplus of 15 billion USD with SAARC countries. Given the geographical location of the SAARC members, for all the members being neighbours, India can derive lot of benefits through SAARC.

The only irritant for India in strengthening its relations with SAARC is Pakistan.

Month: Current Affairs - March, 2020