NEW DELHI: India on Monday called for ensuring uninterrupted supply of vital medicines and food products across the globe to deal with the challenges in the wake of surge in the number of coronavirus cases across the world Participating in the Extraordinary G20 Trade and Investment Ministerial virtual meeting, commerce and industry minister, Piyush Goyal said that trade facilitative responses need to be in place, and wherever necessary, requirements by authorities like customs, banks of producing original documents by importers for various clearances can be removed temporarily."Additionally, we need to think of a suitable framework under which critical pharma products, medical devices, diagnostic equipment and kits and healthcare professionals can be deployed at short notice across territories under a pre-agreed protocol," he said."Our collective act must reflect and uphold the centrality of the rules based multilateral system with development at the centre of any action in trade as well as other areas. We must ensure that the supply of goods, and services most importantly that of vital medicines and food products are not disrupted consistent with national needs." he added.The minister said that the catastrophic impact of Covid-19 globally and the serious threat it poses to the world economy are alarming.Around 90 per cent of the Covid-19 cases and 88 per cent of deaths have occurred in the G20 countries , while many other nations too are now grappling with rising cases each day, he said.He pointed out that developing countries and least developed countries (LDCs) are particularly vulnerable as they may not have matching resources, infrastructure and technical capacities to face this unprecedented pandemic."Our responses must recognise these inadequacies while deciding on our collaborative response. Such unprecedented challenges necessitate innovative, collaborative and proactive response from the world," Goyal said.He said that G20 leaders at the Extraordinary G20 Leaders' Summit on Covid-19 last week committed to inject $5 trillion into the global economy to combat the social, economic and financial fallouts of this pandemic, but this move needs to be substantiated with a predictable, inclusive and stable international trading environment which recognises unequal level of economic development, per capita income, and human development index.Additionally, the member countries need to think of a suitable framework under which critical pharma products, medical devices, diagnostic equipment and kits and healthcare professionals can be deployed at short notice across territories under a pre-agreed protocol."There is a need to uphold our multilateral commitments and improve upon its effectiveness to meet current challenges. While putting in place our emergency responses, it is imperative that we act to safeguard our shared future as well by increase our preparedness for such calamities by suitably investing in strengthening public health infrastructure and capacities especially in developing and least developed countries," Goyal emphasised.Therefore, he added, that the countries need to work towards creating a global framework for further enhancing affordable access to medicines for fighting pandemics and facilitating easier movement of healthcare professionals across national borders.Despite many challenges, India has been a dependable and affordable source of efficacious and high quality medical and pharma products to nearly 190 countries around the world."We are confident that with improved regulatory and R&D cooperation, India can further enhance its capabilities to serve the world in crisis like this. We must ensure that suitable instruments stay in place to address these inabilities and preserve the life, livelihood, food and nutritional security of the poorest," the minister said.He added that although the Indian government has taken several measures to deal with the situation, mere national responses are not sufficient in todays inter-dependent world, and there is a need to act more collaboratively as well as globally.G-20 countries are a group of developed and developing countries. Its members include India, the US, European Union, China, Japan, Italy, France and Turkey.