PM Narendra Modi announced at the G20 conference, India plans to produce over 5 billion COVID-19 vaccines by 2022

Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke at the G-20 Summit in Rome on Saturday, October 30, 2021, and announced that India is planning to produce over 5 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses next year. PM Modi raised the subject of facilitating international travel during his speech at the session on 'Global Economy and Global Health,' and suggested that the system of mutual recognition of vaccine certification be used to achieve this.

"India has always been serious about its global obligations. Today, on this G-20 platform, I want to tell you all that India is preparing to produce more than 5 billion vaccine doses for the world next year. This commitment of India will go a long way in preventing this infection. Therefore, it is necessary that Indian vaccines be recognized by WHO at the earliest," the Prime Minister said.

PM Modi remarked that to battle COVID-19, we all put forward the concept of 'One Earth - One Health,' and that this vision may become a major force in the world to deal with any such catastrophe in the future, during the first in-person G20 Summit since the onset of the pandemic in 2020.

He was also pleased with the G20's decision to establish a 15 percent minimum corporate tax in order to make the global financial architecture more 'fair.'

The decision is intended, among other things, at ensuring that businesses pay a specific level of tax in the countries where they operate.

"I myself suggested this in the G-20 meeting in 2014 and I would like to thank the G-20 for making concrete progress in this direction. An increasing international movement is necessary for economic recovery. For this, we have to ensure mutual recognition of vaccine certificates of different countries," PM Modi said.

He said that India served as the world's "pharmacy," delivering medications to more than 150 countries. 

"Along with this, we also put our full strength in increasing vaccine research and manufacturing. In a short span of time, we have administered over one billion vaccine doses in India. By controlling the infection in one-sixth of the world's population, India has also contributed to making the world safer, and has also reduced the chances of further mutation of the virus," PM Modi added.

The Prime Minister also urged G-20 countries to consider India as a reliable partner in their economic growth and supply chain diversification efforts.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Modi will attend the G20 Summit on Climate Change and the Environment's second session on Sunday. He is also slated to meet with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a bilateral discussion.