‘Nobody’s Safe Until Everybody’s Safe’

Italy was the first country to be hit by the Coronavirus pandemic, and after seeing successive waves, has only recently stabilised. In the process, they have learnt a lot about the virus and how to tackle it, and that invaluable experience is being shared with India.

For as Vincenzo de Luca, Italy’s ambassador to India told StratNews Global in an exclusive interview, nobody is safe until everybody is safe, which means Italy will make every effort to help India deal with this pandemic. For now it has extended help in the form of oxygen supplied by an Italian firm in Tamil Nadu. Going forward, this will be expanded into areas identified by India.

Ambassador Luca said his country is working in close consultation and coordination with the European Union (EU) to ensure no wasteful duplication of effort. But he was vague about how the EU could respond to India’s demand for waiver of IP rights on vaccines. In principle, the EU has welcomed it but this something for the World Trade Organisation to decide and that could take time.

More in this conversation with Vincenzo de Luca, Italy’s Ambassador to India.