Hopeful of finding solution to vaccine certification row with UK: India

India on Thursday said it was hopeful of finding a solution to the contentious vaccine certification row with the UK through talks even as it insisted that Britain's travel restrictions on Indian nationals were "clearly discriminatory".

In a retaliatory move, India imposed reciprocal action under which all British nationals arriving in India from the UK needed to undergo a mandatory 10-day quarantine even if they are fully vaccinated.

"Discussions are ongoing and we remain hopeful that some solution may emerge," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said at a media briefing.

At the same time, he said the British travel restrictions on Indians with valid vaccination certificates were "clearly discriminatory".

 

"There is no second opinion about it. We had taken it up with the UK authorities so many times at various levels, but without success. That is why we have applied reciprocal measures from October 4 on all UK nationals arriving in India from the UK," he said.

Under the new British rules that came into effect on October 4, fully vaccinated Indians require to undergo 10-day quarantine as the UK have issues with India's COVID-19 vaccine certification.

The UK initially refused to recognise Covishield, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII). However, following India's strong criticism of the decision, the UK on September 22 amended its new guidelines and included the vaccine.

However, the move did not provide any relief from quarantine rules for Indian travellers vaccinated with two doses of Covishield.

Later, British officials said the UK has issues with India's vaccine certification process and not with the Covishield vaccine.

The two sides held series of technical-level talks to resolve the vaccine certification issue, but there was no resolution to the row.

According to the new UK rules, Indian travellers who received both doses of the Covishield vaccine will be considered unvaccinated. The new British rules have triggered massive criticism in India.

In a separate development, the second meeting of the India-UK joint working group on cyber capacity building was held on Thursday virtually.

"The meeting discussed various aspects of cooperation in the area of cyber capacity building and was held under the aegis of the India-UK Framework for Cyber Relationship and in support of the Enhanced Cyber Security partnership agreed in the India-UK 2030 Roadmap," the MEA said in a statement.

"The delegations exchanged views on a wide range of issues to further deepen the existing bilateral cooperation and agreed to work closely with each other in the area of capacity building," it said.