‘COVID-19 crisis a turning point in history’

Modi, Macron hold talks over pandemic

01/04/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,NEW DELHI

The COVID-19 pandemic is a “turning point in history”, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a telephone conversation with French President Emanuel Macron on Tuesday.

According to a release by the Ministry of External Affairs, PM Modi expressed his condolences for the loss of lives in the pandemic in France.

“The French President strongly agreed with Prime Minister’s view that the COVID-19 crisis is a turning point in modern history and offers the world an opportunity to forge a new human-centric concept of globalisation,” the MEA statement said, adding that the two leaders had agreed to have Indian and French experts share preventive measures, research on treatment and vaccines.

The two leaders had both appeared on an emergency video conference convened by Saudi King Salman last week to discuss the pandemic, where leaders of the G-20 had committed to infusing $5 trillion into the global economy to mitigate the impact of the virus.

During the conference, Mr. Modi had stressed on the need for the G-20 to look at humanitarian aspects to global challenges like pandemics, climate change and terrorism.

Global concerns

The MEA said Mr. Modi and Mr. Macron had “underlined the importance of not losing sight of other global concerns like climate change, which impact humanity as a whole.

They also stressed the need to devote special attention to the needs of less developed countries, including those in Africa, during the present crisis.”