Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin’s visit to India, which was due to take place on January 10, has been canceled due to an unprecedented rise in the number of coronavirus cases there. The Head of the Government of the Russian Federation was invited to the large-scale business forum “Dynamic Gujarat” (Vibrant Gujarat), which was postponed indefinitely at the last moment.
The unexpected cancellation of the 10th Vibrant Gujarat Business Forum, which Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was supposed to address on Monday, signaled that 2022 presents the country with a new challenge. We are talking about a kind of Indian analogue of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. It is a project of Mr Modi, launched in 2003 in his native state of Gujarat, of which the politician was the chief minister until 2014. The forum was supposed to be a prelude to the main party national celebrated on January 26 – Republic Day.
Held every two years, “Dynamic Gujarat” has become a platform for interaction between business communities from East and West, including representatives of Indian states and constituent entities of the Federation of Russia. This time, the invitation was received by heads of state and government from five countries, including Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. Indian diplomatic sources told Kommersant that preparations for the visit were underway and they were expecting Mr Mishustin at the forum.
“India should continue to increase its economic engagement with the Russian Far East, and the Gujarat summit will play a decisive role in this regard,” Indian newspaper Deccan Chronicle wrote on Monday. Mainstream Indian media pointed out that a visit by a high-ranking Russian delegation headed by Mikhail Mishustin, which was to include representatives of the business community and heads of several regions of the Russian Federation, was planned for the implementation rapid implementation of the agreements reached on December 6 during a visit to New York.Delhi Russian President Vladimir Putin. In a statement adopted after the summit, the leaders of the two countries welcomed the interest of Indian companies in expanding their presence in the Russian Far East.
However, the “window of opportunity” that opened for the Russian president to visit India, which ranks second in the world in terms of the number of people infected with the coronavirus, has closed before the Russian Prime Minister a months later. Until the end of last week, the registration of participants in the forum was in full swing. But at the last minute, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupenda Patel’s office released a statement saying, “There has been a rapid increase in the number of coronavirus cases globally, including those caused by the omicron strain. . In the public interest, for the welfare of all citizens, the Chief Minister of State has decided to postpone the tenth Vibrant Gujarat Summit, which was scheduled to take place from 10-12 January 2022.”
The decision, which state authorities tried to avoid until the last moment, became inevitable, given that in the first week of January, the number of coronavirus cases in Gujarat soared compared to the same previous period from 1,059 to 14,346 people, or 15 times. Among those infected were several employees of the forum’s organizing committee.
The spike in coronavirus cases in Narendra Modi’s home state has not become a ‘Gujarati anomaly’. Vinod Pol, head of the prime minister’s coronavirus vaccine advisory team, told a briefing in New Delhi that the country as a whole is seeing an exponential increase in the number of coronavirus cases, the growth rate the highest ever seen during the pandemic. “We believe this is largely due to the Omicron strain, especially in the western regions of our country and especially in major cities, from where we have more data,” Vinod Pol said. According to him, the coronavirus spread index (the so-called R coefficient) in January 2022 was higher than last year during the peak of the second wave of coronavirus. “The R-value is 2.69. This is higher than the 1.69 we saw when the second wave of the pandemic was at its peak,” Paul said, refraining from making predictions about the future. “It is premature to speak at this stage of how far and how long this will continue. As with previous waves, different parts of our country will be at different stages,” he added.
To date, India has the second highest number of detected cases of COVID-19 in the world. Since March 2020, when the pandemic began in the country, the total number of infected people has exceeded 35.7 million. According to the latest data from the country’s health ministry, released on Monday, around 180,000 cases have been detected in the past 24 hours alone.
As it became known on Monday, Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh was among those infected. On December 6, he was negotiating in New Delhi with the Russian Defense Minister, Sergei Shoigu, and took part in the very first meeting of the heads of defense and diplomacy. departments of Russia and India. . “Today I tested positive for coronavirus, symptoms are mild. I am in quarantine. I ask everyone who has been in contact with me recently to self-isolate and get tested for coronavirus. COVID-19,” tweeted Rajnath Singh, 70. Previously road transport and interior ministers, as well as several chief ministers of Indian states, were sick with the coronavirus.
