On his 5-day US visit, Jaishankar meets business leaders in Washington

External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar on Thursday met business leaders in Washington as part of his five-day US visit, the first official trip since President Joe Biden took office in January.

The US business leaders highlighted their ongoing support to assist COVID-19 relief efforts in India, vaccine access and further ways to build healthcare infrastructure together.

"Productive meeting w/ EAM @DrSJaishankar, #GlobalTaskForce members, @USChamber and @USIBC leadership. Minister Jaishankar was briefed on cos' ongoing support to assist COVID-19 relief efforts in India, vaccine access and further ways to build healthcare infrastructure together.", the US-India Business Council, a business advocacy group tweeted post the closed-door Business Roundtable.

Jaishankar addressed the round table with some of the top business leaders that also included CEOs of various vaccine and pharmaceutical companies. The US companies briefed him on vaccine access and further ways to build healthcare infrastructure together.

In recent weeks, both groups the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) and the US-India Business Council (USIBC) have formed a "Global Task Force on Pandemic Response" along with the US Chamber of Commerce to work on several aspects of pandemic relief.

The coronavirus relief includes the provision of 1,000 ventilators required by hospitals in India, 25,000 oxygen concentrators and coordination of human resources executives in India and the US for the effort.