PM Modi addresses G7 summit's outreach session; calls for 'one earth one health' approach for pandem
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday called for following a "one earth, one health" approach to effectively deal with the coronavirus pandemic globally, and sought the support of the G7 grouping to lift patent protections for COVID-19 vaccines, during a virtual address at an outreach session of a summit of the bloc.
Calling for global unity, leadership, and solidarity to prevent future pandemics, Modi also emphasised on the special responsibility of democratic and transparent societies to deal with the challenge, according to an official statement.
Sources said Modi's call for adopting a "one earth, one health" approach received support from German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
They said Australia and several other countries came out in strong support of Modi's call to waive patents on coronavirus vaccines to boost their production. India and South Africa have come out with the proposal at the World Trade Organisation.
The prime minister, speaking at the G7 outreach session titled 'Building Back Stronger - Health', also highlighted India's 'whole of society' approach to fight the pandemic, while synergising the efforts of all levels of the government, industry and civil society.
In his address, Modi sought the support of the G7 countries for a proposal moved at the WTO by India and South Africa, for patent waiver on Covid related technologies.
"The prime minister committed India's support for collective endeavours to improve global health governance. He sought the G7's support for the proposal moved at the WTO by India and South Africa for a TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) waiver on Covid related technologies," the statement said.
"Prime Minister Modi said that today's meeting should send out a message of 'one earth, one health' for the whole world," it said.
The Group of Seven (G7) comprises the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.
As chair of G7, the UK invited India, Australia, South Korea, South Africa to the summit as guest countries.
The leaders of the world's advanced economies are holding a summit in Cornwall in the UK from June 11-13. It is for the first time the leaders of the grouping are meeting since the coronavirus pandemic began.
"Participated in the @G7 summit session on health. Thanked partners for the support during the recent COVID-19 wave. India supports global action to prevent future pandemics. 'one earth, one health' is our message to humanity," Modi tweeted
During the session, Modi expressed appreciation for the support extended by the G7 and other guest countries during the recent wave of Covid infections in India.
"He also explained India's successful use of open-source digital tools for contact tracing and vaccine management, and conveyed India's willingness to share its experience and expertise with other developing countries," the statement said.
The prime minister will participate in the final day of the G7 Summit on Sunday and will speak in two sessions.
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FIDE Women's World Cup final: Humpy draws with Divya in first game
Batumi (Georgia), Jul 26 (PTI): Young Indian International Master Divya Deshmukh held her nerves to hold stalwart Koneru Humpy to a draw in game 1 of the FIDE Women's World Cup final, with both players having their share of opportunities to take the lead here on Saturday.
The draw with black means Humpy, the two-time World Rapid champion, holds a slight edge going in the second and final game under the classical chess rules in the two-game mini-match, and should the deadlock continue, games of shorter duration will be played to determine the winner.
Humpy employed the Queen's gambit accepted as black and it turned out to be a pretty fascinating game right out of the opening as Divya, 19, came up with a piece sacrifice early to deny the black king the right to castle.
Humpy was the first to err and, according to computers, Divya had things under control on the 14th move. However in her bid to recover the extra material, the Nagpur girl, who has secured a place in the Candidates tournament with her sterling performance here, missed a promising continuation.
What followed the exchange of all minor pieces and the ensuing queen and rook endgame gave enough counter play to both players. The game was eventually drawn after Humpy sacrificed her rook to force perpetual checks.
"The game saw an extremely sharp battle with the game ending in a draw in 41 moves. On move 7, Divya made her aggressive intentions clear by offering another pawn,
which looked like home preparation. Humpy made a practical decision of refraining from taking the pawn and a balanced position was reached by move 10 by white," said Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay, an Arjuna awardee and the first Indian to get a chess Grandmaster norm.
"However, instead of developing the undeveloped Knight, Humpy retreated the centralised Knight on move 10, giving huge positional advantage to Divya. Divya could have gained huge positional advantage on the 12th move by moving a rook. However, she chose to play for King side attack by sacrificing a piece instead.
"Humpy, too, erred at this stage and instead of moving the King to Queen side, moved it to the King side. Divya, on move 14, could have obtained a crushing attack by threatening a mate by developing her Queen. Instead she chose to exchange a pair of Bishops first, which enabled Humpy to defend her King by returning the piece," said Thipsay.
"Players thus reached a balanced Queen and two Rooks ending. Divya continued to play ambitiously and tried to attack Humpy’s King but the latter defended accurately and the game was drawn in 41 moves by perpetual check," he added.
In the play-off for the third place, Chinese players Zhongyi Tan, the former women's world champion and top seed Lei Tingjie also decided to split points out of a Queen’s gambit declined game.
The opening raised visions of a close contest between the two but having been knocked out of title race in the previous round, none of them wanted to take any huge risk. It was still a middle game when the players shook hands.
With the top two positions sealed for the Indians, the berth to the next Candidates is also assigned, while the player finishing third will also get an entry to the premier event scheduled for 2026.
Results: Divya Deshmukh (Ind) drew with Koneru Humpy (Ind); Zhongyi Tan (Chn) drew with Tingjie Lei (Chn).
