The 18th Meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Russia, India and China—the RIC cooperation organization—was held by online video-conference on Nov. 26, and concluded with a lengthy communiqué which included a handful of substantive points of agreement among the three powerhouse nations. Given the serious tensions between India and China over recent years, which the British have manipulated and exacerbated to keep India out of the Belt and Road Initiative, the RIC results were a significant strategic advance.
First, the three countries agreed on the need for an “international response to global health challenges including pandemics, with equitable and affordable access to medicines, vaccines and critical health supplies. They reiterated the need for continued cooperation in this fight inter alia through sharing of vaccine doses, transfer of technology, development of local production capacities, promotion of supply chains for medical products.”
Second, they stated their commitment to “step up efforts in jointly countering terrorism, illicit drug trafficking and trans-border organized crime,” and they emphasized “their determination to counter the spread of illicit drug trafficking in opiates and methamphetamine from Afghanistan and beyond, which poses a serious threat to regional security and stability and provides funding for terrorist organization.”
