New Delhi (NVI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi will deliver the keynote address at the inaugural function of Grand Challenges Annual Meeting on October 19 through video conferencing.
The Grand Challenges Annual Meeting, for the last 15 years, has fostered international innovation collaborations to address the biggest challenges in health and development, Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.
The Grand Challenges Annual Meeting this year will convene virtually from 19-21 October, bringing together policymakers and scientific leaders, it added.
It will also call for deepened scientific collaborations in solving global health problems, with great emphasis on COVID-19 with an “India for the World” framing, the PMO said.
Moreover, the Grand Challenges Annual Meeting 2020 will be co-hosted by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science & Technology, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and NITI Aayog, along with the Grand Challenges Canada, the United States Agency for International Development and Wellcome.
World leaders, eminent scientists and researchers from across the globe will join this annual meeting to discuss key priorities for accelerating progress across the Sustainable Development Goals in the post-pandemic world and elaborate on addressing the challenges to manage COVID-19, the statement noted.
The three-day program will also feature leaders talks, panel discussions and virtual informal conversations on topics ranging from scientific interventions for fighting the pandemic, managing the pandemic and accelerating the development and implementation of global solutions to combat this pandemic and prevent the next one.
Approximately 1,600 people from 40 countries will participate in this Annual meeting, the PMO said.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan will deliver the opening remarks and Bill Gates, Co-Chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will present the plenary framing conversation.
Notably, the Grand Challenges India was set up as a partnership of the Department of Biotechnology and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2012, and Wellcome also joined the partnership.
It works across a range of health and developmental priorities ranging from agriculture, nutrition, sanitation, maternal and child health to infectious diseases, the PMO said in a release.
-RJV
