Experts from India and the UK will join forces through a new virtual hub to deliver vaccines for coronavirus and other deadly viruses, the UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab announced in India today (Wednesday 16 December).

The Foreign Secretary met Prime Minister Modi to discuss the UK and India working together as a force for good and launching the pioneering new vaccines hub which will share best practice for regulation and clinical trials, and foster innovation. He also visited a Delhi health clinic where Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines will be administered.

India’s Serum Institute is poised to make over a billion doses of the coronavirus vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca. Unlike other vaccines, it can be stored at normal fridge temperatures, making it easier and cheaper to produce and keep – and distribute around the world.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said:

This Serum Institute and Oxford University partnership demonstrates the UK-India relationship at its best: a vaccine developed in the UK and made in India, drawing our brightest minds together to save lives as a global force for good.

A global pandemic requires a global solution. Scientific cooperation has made breakthroughs on coronavirus vaccines at record-breaking pace and the UK-India Vaccine Hub will now build on these innovations, to bring this crisis to an end and protect us all against future pandemics.

Millions of the doses made by the Serum Institute will be distributed to the world’s poorest people via the global COVAX initiative, in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO) and Gavi, the vaccine alliance.

The UK has championed equitable access to any coronavirus vaccine for those who need it and has committed up to £619 million to COVAX to secure both the UK’s access to coronavirus vaccines and distribute Covid-19 vaccines across the world.

India supplies more than 50% of the world’s vaccines and 25% of the NHS’s generic drugs. Closer UK-India cooperation on medicines and vaccines approvals will ensure speedy access for the UK to Indian-produced pharmaceuticals and help safeguard future supplies to the NHS.

The new hub will enable British and Indian experts to share knowledge on clinical trials and regulatory approvals and get vaccines to people who need them most in a safe, secure and energy-efficient way.

It will protect the UK and India by enhancing cooperation on the development and distribution of coronavirus vaccines, better aligning the international regulation of vaccines and fostering partnerships to develop innovation ‘moonshots’ that can define vaccine delivery over the next decade and beyond.

During his meeting with Prime Minister Modi today, the Foreign Secretary signalled his ambition for a closer UK-India relationship as part of a wider UK focus on our partnerships in the Indo-Pacific. They also spoke about the 10-year roadmap which heralds a new era for the UK and India with an ambitious plan for an Enhanced Trade Partnership.

The Foreign Secretary also met Minister for Education Ramesh Pokhriyal and agreed to work together on mutual recognition of academic qualifications, starting with master’s degrees, over the next year.

The Foreign Secretary welcomed the signing of a new agreement between the University of Edinburgh and the Indian State of Gujarat to open a new biotechnology university in Gujarat in July 2021. This will be the first foreign university collaboration of its kind in India.

Notes to editors

• The UK is one of the biggest global funders of the World Health Organization and the single biggest donor to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness (CEPI) and to Gavi.
• Of the £619 million the UK has committed to COVAX, a global initiative designed to provide countries equitable access to safe and effective vaccines, up to £548 million will go towards helping developing countries get coronavirus vaccines to those who need them. COVAX is co-led by Gavi, CEPI and WHO.
• The UK and India also announced today a new memorandum of understanding between India’s Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) and the United Kingdom Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (UK MHRA) agreeing to more frequent discussions on UK-India vaccine and pharmaceutical regulations, improving standards and sharing information to control against the trade of unlicensed products.
• In addition, the UK and India announced a new partnership to help UK and Indian scientists unlock the power of data, including the data within our genes, to deliver better diagnostics and enhanced life-saving treatments for cancer, diabetes, maternal health challenges and rare diseases.
• Free-to-use photos from the Foreign Secretary’s visit to India are available to download here.

New support for traders and businesses goes live today with the launch of the Movement Assistance Scheme (MAS), to help them meet new requirements for moving animals, plants and associated products from Great Britain to Northern Ireland after the transition period ends.

This includes advice to businesses through a dedicated helpline and means traders will not need to pay certification costs, which will be reimbursed by government to those certifying the products. Together, these measures will make it easier for traders to continue to move agri-food goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.

Farming, Fisheries and Food Minister Victoria Prentis said:

“As we implement the Northern Ireland Protocol, these arrangements ensure there is unfettered access for traders and minimises the impact of these new requirements.

“The Movement Assistance Scheme will help make it easier to move animals, plants and agri-food goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland and will give practical help and support to businesses.”

This follows the publication of the Command Paper setting out details of an agreement in principle on the implementation of the Northern Ireland Protocol, including movement of agri-food goods.

From 1 January 2021, traders will need to meet new sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) requirements following the end of the transition period given that the island of Ireland is treated as a single epidemiological unit. These SPS requirements include Export Health Certificates and Phytosanitary certificates for specific agri-food goods.

The scheme removes the need for traders to pay certification costs and will reimburse the costs incurred by those certifying the products up to a set amount. We will monitor the performance of the scheme, and review it after three months to determine how to best provide ongoing support to traders.

In addition to the scheme launched today, the UK Government has agreed that authorised traders, such as supermarkets and their trusted suppliers, will benefit from a grace period from certification requirements for products of animal origin, composite products, food and feed of non-animal origin and plants and plant products, through to 1 April 2021.

Guidance on the new scheme and moving agri-food goods to and from Northern Ireland is available.

On Tuesday 24th November 2020, the United Kingdom’s Department for International Trade and the United Arab Emirates’ Ministry of Economy held their sixth Joint Economic Committee (JEC) in Dubai. The JEC was established in April 2009 under a Memorandum of Understanding, and aims to strengthen and develop bilateral cooperation between both countries, with a focus on trade and investment ties, creating opportunities for our business communities, and stimulating an exchange of technical expertise. The United Arab Emirates is the United Kingdom’s largest trading partner in the Gulf, with total trade in goods and services between our counties reaching £17.8bn in the four quarters to the end of Q2 2020.

The JEC was co-chaired by the United Kingdom’s Minister for International Trade, Ranil Jayawardena M.P. and the United Arab Emirates Minister of State for Foreign Trade H.E. Dr. Thani Ahmad Al Zeyoudi. There was a wide-ranging discussion on bilateral trade, ways to increase market access in priority sectors, as well as presentations from local government representatives for Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah on the trade and investment opportunities within their Emirates.

The JEC discussed the work of the United Arab Emirates-United Kingdom Business Council, hearing from the council’s co-chairs Lord Udny-Lister and H.E. Ahmed Ali Al Sayegh. Discussion covered plans to expand the business council’s membership to include more SMEs and entrepreneurs, as well as run a series of campaigns on priority issues in 2021, such as food security and space sector technology, where there is great potential for closer engagement between businesses in both our countries.

Discussion at the JEC focused on the Joint Trade and Investment Review currently underway between the United Kingdom and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) too. It is a joint piece of work to provide an overview of the trade and investment relationship between the GCC and the United Kingdom, identify barriers to trade and investment, and draw clear recommendations for future cooperation that both parties can take forward to deepen our bilateral trading relationship in the long term. More details of this work can be found on GOV.UK.

During the JEC, we celebrated the close collaboration between the United Kingdom and United Arab Emirates in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and our work to maintain the flow of trade – especially on products such as food and drink. Both delegations recognised the importance of closer collaboration for the post-pandemic recovery phase in order to build back better through technology, innovation and economic partnership; all of which contribute to increased economic diversification, clean growth, supply chain resilience, and strong regulatory environments.

The meeting saw the British and Emirati governments agree to tackle market access barriers and boost trade in a number of sectors ranging from Healthcare and Life Sciences to Intellectual Property. The next meeting of the JEC will be organised by the Department for International Trade and will be held in the United Kingdom’s Pavilion at Dubai Expo in late 2021.