World News | WTO DG Okonjo-Iweala Congratulates India on Administering 1 Billion COVID-19 Vaccine Doses

New Delhi [India], October 21 (ANI): World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who is on a three-day visit to India, congratulated the nation on achieving the milestone of administering 1 billion COVID-19 vaccination doses on Thursday.

She also congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and Commerce & Industry Minister Piyush Goyal.

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She lauded India's effort for achieving the huge target in a very short period of time.

"I think it's absolutely significant that India has achieved a 1 billion doses target. I want to congratulate the govt, PM Modi, Health Minister, my colleague the Commerce Minister, everyone. This is a huge achievement in a very short period of time," said Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, DG, WTO.

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"Since we have seen that the more you can vaccinate the population the faster you can also recover from the pandemic economically, I think it's a great signal. We can see that India is rebounding very fast with respect to the economy. So, it's very good," added Okonjo-Iweala.

In a landmark achievement, India's cumulative COVID-19 vaccination coverage crossed 100 crore doses on Thursday.

A total of 100 crore vaccine doses have been administered so far to eligible beneficiaries, as per the CoWIN portal at 9:47 am today.

India is set to hold crucial talks on vaccine patent waiver and global trade issues with WTO DG.

The WTO DG's visit to India is significant as it comes a little over a month ahead of the 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) of the WTO which will take place from November 30 till December 3.

Okonjo-Iweala took office on March 1, 2021, and became the first woman and the first African to be chosen as Director-General. Her term will expire on August 31, 2025. (ANI)

(The above story is verified and authored by ANI staff, ANI is South Asia's leading multimedia news agency with over 100 bureaus in India, South Asia and across the globe. ANI brings the latest news on Politics and Current Affairs in India & around the World, Sports, Health, Fitness, Entertainment, & News. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)