Editor's Pick: Talks about vaccines and a visit to the Vatican

Addressing the first session of the G20 summit in Rome, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stressed on the need for a collaborative effort among nations to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. He highlighted India's contribution in helping the world during the pandemic. India has ensured medical supplies to about 150 countries, and vaccines made in India have been sent to as many as 65 countries through the Vaccine Maitri programme. Given how supply chains across the world were disrupted during the pandemic, Mr. Modi highlighted the need for resilient global supply chains and invited G20 countries to invest in India for supply chain diversification. Mr. Modi appreciated the G20's push for making global trade more transparent by introducing a global minimum corporate tax of 15%. Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla, who briefed the press later, said that the Prime Minister also stressed on the need for facilitating international travel and nudged the WHO to grant emergency use authorisation for Covaxin. A technical advisory group of the WHO is set to meet on November 3 to conduct a final "risk-benefit assessment" for emergency use authorisation for the indigenous vaccine. Mr. Modi also interacted with world leaders at the sidelines of the G20 summit, including French President Emmanuel Macron, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, U.S. President Joe Biden, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Mr. Modi also visited the Pope at the Vatican where they discussed a range of issues including climate change and eradicating poverty. The Pope reportedly described Mr. Modi's invitation to him to visit India "the greatest gift". The last Pope to visit India was Pope John Paul in 1999. The meeting is significant for two reasons in particular. One, there are concerns in many countries that religious minorities, including Christians, are being attacked in India. In recent months, mobs claiming allegiance to right-wing groups such as the Bajrang Dal have shouted slogans against conversions, vandalised property and abused or beaten pastors. These issues were not discussed in the meeting. Two, the BJP is hoping to establish a strong support base among the Christians in Goa and Manipur, which are going to the polls soon. The G20 summit is important especially this year as it will set the norms for global recovery after the pandemic, while the Prime Minister's visit to the Vatican has domestic implications. This is why it is the top story of the day. The Hindu Explains What is the controversy over Mullaperiyar? How is Facebook embedding the real world in computing? Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Head over to our newsletter subscription page to sign up for Editor's Pick and more. Click here Try out The Hindu's daily news quiz Facebook changed parent company name to _______. a. Metaverse b. Facebook Social c. Meta d. Truth Social To find out the answer and play the full quiz, click here. [logo] Editor's Pick 31 OCTOBER 2021 [The Hindu logo] In the Editor's Pick newsletter, The Hindu explains why a story was important enough to be carried on the front page of today's edition of our newspaper. [Arrow]( [Open in browser]( [Mail icon]( [More newsletters]( Talks about vaccines and a visit to the Vatican [Talks about vaccines and a visit to the Vatican] Addressing the [first session of the G20 summit in Rome]( Prime Minister Narendra Modi stressed on the need for a collaborative effort among nations to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. He highlighted India's contribution in helping the world during the pandemic. India has ensured medical supplies to about 150 countries, and vaccines made in India have been sent to as many as 65 countries through the Vaccine Maitri programme. Given how supply chains across the world were disrupted during the pandemic, Mr. Modi highlighted the need for resilient global supply chains and invited G20 countries to invest in India for supply chain diversification. Mr. Modi appreciated the G20's push for making global trade more transparent by introducing a global minimum corporate tax of 15%. Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla, who briefed the press later, said that the Prime Minister also stressed on the need for facilitating international travel and nudged the WHO to grant emergency use authorisation for Covaxin. A technical advisory group of the WHO is set to meet on November 3 to conduct a final "risk-benefit assessment" for emergency use authorisation for the indigenous vaccine. Mr. Modi also interacted with world leaders at the sidelines of the G20 summit, including French President Emmanuel Macron, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, U.S. President Joe Biden, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Mr. Modi also visited the Pope at the Vatican where they discussed a range of issues including climate change and eradicating poverty. The Pope reportedly described Mr. Modi's invitation to him to visit India "the greatest gift". The last Pope to visit India was Pope John Paul in 1999. The meeting is significant for two reasons in particular. One, there are concerns in many countries that religious minorities, including Christians, are being attacked in India. In recent months, mobs claiming allegiance to right-wing groups such as the Bajrang Dal have shouted slogans against conversions, vandalised property and abused or beaten pastors. These issues were not discussed in the meeting. Two, the BJP is hoping to establish a strong support base among the Christians in Goa and Manipur, which are going to the polls soon. The G20 summit is important especially this year as it will set the norms for global recovery after the pandemic, while the Prime Minister's visit to the Vatican has domestic implications. This is why it is the top story of the day.   The Hindu Explains [Arrow][What is the controversy over Mullaperiyar?]( [Arrow][How is Facebook embedding the real world in computing?]( [underlineimg] Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Head over to our newsletter subscription page to sign up for Editor's Pick and more. [Click here]( Try out The Hindu's daily news quiz Facebook changed parent company name to _______. a. Metaverse b. Facebook Social c. Meta d. Truth Social To find out the answer and play the full quiz, [click here](. 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