India bats for making Indo-Pacific a region for shared prosperity in first 'JAI' trilateral meet
Buenos Aires : India underscored its firm commitment to make the Indo-Pacific a region for shared economic growth as Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday held their first trilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G-20 summit here, amidst China flexing its muscles in the strategic Indo-Pacific region.
Asserting that India will "continue to work together on shared values," Modi said, "When you look at the acronym of our three countries -- Japan, America, and India -- it is 'JAI', which stands for success in Hindi."
The prime minister said the 'JAI' meeting was a convergence of vision between the three nations.
"This is a very good occasion for the three countries -- countries which have shared values, democratic values...We will continue to play a big role together for world peace, prosperity and stability," he said.
Modi underscored India's firm commitment to make the Indo Pacific a region for shared economic growth and common prosperity.
The prime minister articulated five action points that would serve the common interest of promoting peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region.
He assured all countries of the inclusiveness and openness of this framework and highlighted the importance of working jointly in areas such as connectivity, sustainable development, disaster relief, maritime security and unfettered mobility.
Modi also underlined the importance of building consensus on an architecture in the Indo-Pacific region based on principles of mutual benefit and respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity.
"JAI (Japan, America, India) trilateral marks the coming together of three friendly nations. Today's historic JAI meeting was a great beginning. PM @AbeShinzo, @POTUS and I held fruitful talks aimed at furthering connectivity, maritime cooperation and a stable Indo-Pacific," Modi tweeted after the meeting.
The Japanese premier said he was happy to participate in "the first ever 'JAI' meeting" and hope that it would reinforce the trilateral partnership and its close cooperation "towards realising a free and open Indo-Pacific".
Appreciating India's growth story during the meet, Trump said, "The relationships between our three countries is extremely good and extremely strong...with India, maybe stronger than ever...We are doing very well together. We are doing a lot of trade together. We are doing a lot of defence together, a lot of military purchases."
The leaders emphasised the importance of cooperation among the three countries on all major issue of global and multilateral interests such as connectivity, sustainable development, counterterrorism and maritime and cyber security.
They shared their views on progressing a free, open, conclusive and rule-based order in the Indo-Pacific region, based on respect for international law and peaceful resolution of all differences.
The trilateral meeting took place at a time when China is engaged in hotly contested territorial disputes in the South China Sea, and with Japan in the East China Sea. Both the areas are said to be rich in minerals, oil and other natural resources.
China claims almost all of the South China Sea. Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have overlapping claims in the waterway, which includes vital sea lanes through which about USD 3 trillion in global trade passes each year.
The US has been conducting regular patrols in the South China Sea to assert freedom of navigation in the area where Beijing has built up and militarised many of the islands and reefs it controls in the region.
Prime Minister Modi, in his keynote address at the Shangri La Dialogue in Singapore in June expounded India's stand on the strategic Indo-Pacific region.
"India does not see the Indo-Pacific Region as a strategy or as a club of limited members. Nor as a grouping that seeks to dominate. And by no means do we consider it as directed against any country. A geographical definition, as such, cannot be," he had said.
Modi, Trump and Abe also agreed to cooperate in various ways and together with other countries.
They also agreed on the importance of meeting in "Trilateral Format" at multilateral conferences.
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'Low-quality' catheters supplied to West Bengal govt hospitals at high price, probe ordered
Kolkata (PTI): The West Bengal health department has launched a probe into the supplies of allegedly low-quality and locally made catheters at a high price to several government hospitals, posing a risk to the lives of patients undergoing treatment in these facilities, officials said.
Such central venous catheters (CVCs) were allegedly supplied to at least five medical colleges and hospitals in the state, defying allocation of international standard-compliant CVCs, they said.
The distribution company, which has been accused of supplying these catheters to government hospitals, admitted to the fault but placed the blame on its employees.
"We started checking stocks some time back and found these locally made CVCs in my hospital store. These catheters are of low quality as compared to those allocated by the state. We have informed the state health department," a senior official of the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital told PTI.
Low-quality catheters were also found in the stores of other hospitals, which indicates "possible involvement of insiders in the scam", a health department official said.
The low-quality CVCs were supplied by a distributor in the Hatibagan area in the northern part of Kolkata for the last three to four months, he said.
"Such kinds of local CVCs are priced around Rs 1,500 but the distributor took Rs 4,177 for each device," the official said.
A CVC is a thin and flexible tube that is inserted into a vein to allow for the administration of fluids, blood, and other treatment. It's also clinically called a central line catheter.
"An initial probe revealed that the distribution company Prakash Surgical had supplied the low-quality and locally manufactured catheters to several government hospitals instead of the CVCs of the government-designated international company.
"All the units will be tested and a proper investigation is on to find out who benefited from these supplies," the health department official said.
The distribution company blamed its employees for the supply of inferior quality catheters.
"I was sick for a few months. Some employees of the organisation made this mistake. We are taking back all those units that have gone to the hospitals. It's all about misunderstanding," an official of the distribution company told PTI.
According to another state health department official, a complaint was lodged with the police in this connection.
Asked about how many patients were affected by the usage of such low-quality CVCs, the official said, "The probe would also try to find that out".
According to sources in the health department, some of the staff of the hospitals' equipment receiving departments and some local officials of international organisations might be involved in the alleged irregularities.
