India’s Minister of External Affairs Dr S Jaishankar today said there is every sign that the economy is faring well, and the growth is back and is seen not only in numbers reported by the companies, but also on the streets, in spirit.

Dr Jaishankar was addressing media at the India Pavilion at EXPO 2020 and commended the efforts which led to 3 lakh footfalls in the pavilion in 43 days, since its inauguration by Minister of Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs & Food & Public Distribution and Textiles, Shri Piyush Goyal.

There are two parallel processes going on simultaneously, he said, “One is the recovery from COVID and the other is the recovery of the economy. Both are showing resilience in different forms. In terms of lives and livelihoods, the next few months and years will really show who has been more resilient and who has perhaps not been that much. In India, we have crossed 1.1 billion shots. The pace is continuing and there has been confidence that in the next few weeks, all the eligible people will get two shots. It will leave us in a good shape to tackle any future mis-happenings that may take place,” said Dr Jaishankar.

“Then, there is every sign that the economy is faring well. The growth is not only back in numbers seen in company reporting, but also on the streets in terms of spirit. I would say we are well poised and part of the reasonwhy we are well poised is that a lot of effort was made in creating the capacities to handle COVID  — hospitals, ventilators and even the vaccination. Part of it is also because of the resilience and foresight with which we responded,” he added.

“We husbanded our resources well and reacted in the balanced and right manner. We recovered and at the same time we recovered in a very responsible manner. So, that creates a fair degree of confidence and optimism in India as we look into 2022. I would certainly hope that in a country like UAE, which is a great friend, it will certainly get reflected. And this is already getting reflected in our trade figures. This year, may actually be one of our best years in trade. Trade recovery has been very strong and we don’t think that it is just because of pent up demand. The recovery remains very strong,” said Dr Jaishankar.

He also visited the UAE and Israeli pavilions and said, “In many ways the Indian pavilion covers the tradition and the modernity of the country. It is challenging but that has been successfully done. The footfalls are reflective of the good work that has been done.” Dr Jaishankar was accompanied by Ambassador of India to the UAE, Shri Pavan Kapoor and Consul General of India in Dubai, Dr Aman Puri.

On his expectations from the recent meeting of the new QUAD that includes, UAE, Israel, India and the US, he said, “It was a hybrid meeting. Two of us were together and two of us joined virtually. We have to have a follow-up session so that we agree on exactly how we want to go forward. The follow-up meeting will be taking place in the coming weeks.”

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