COVID-19: US working with India, says President Trump, calls PM Modi 'a very good friend'
May 16, 2020
Washington D.C. [US], May 16 : US President Donald Trump on Friday (local time) called Prime Minister Narendra Modi a 'very good friend' and said US was working with India as the two countries battle the COVID-19 outbreak.
"So, India has been so great. Your Prime Minister has been a very good friend of mine. I just got back, a short while ago, from India recently. And we are working very much with India too," the US President told reporters here.
The US President made the remarks on being asked about his message to Indian-Americans.
Trump along with his family had visited India in February earlier this year.
"And we have a tremendous Indian population in the United States. And many of the people that you are talking about are working on the vaccine too. Great scientists and researchers. Yeah, we are working very closely also with India," he said.
Asked if a US vaccine would be available to the rest of world at an affordable rate, the US President said: "The last thing anybody is looking for is profit, in terms of what we are doing. Every company, they want to get it out. We have had that -- we have had a great experience on remdesivir. We have had a great experience on everything we have done."
Earlier, the President announced in a tweet that US will donate ventilators to India.
"I am proud to announce that the United States will donate ventilators to our friends in India. We stand with India and Narendra Modi during this pandemic. We are also cooperating on vaccine development. Together we will beat the invisible enemy!" Trump said in a tweet.
Speaking to reporters at White House later, Trump reiterated US is sending 'quite a few' ventilators to India.
"We are sending quite a lot of ventilators to India. I spoke to Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi and we are sending quite a few ventilators to India. We have a tremendous supply of ventilators," Trump said at the White House.
India had last month allowed the export of millions of hydroxychloroquine tablets to treat COVID-19 patients in America and Trump had lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his "strong leadership" in helping "not just India, but humanity".
