Vice President Kamala Harris has served as the Washington welcome crew for a series of world leaders this week, many of whom were attending the U.N. General Assembly in New York, as President Joe Biden refocuses his efforts on passing his massive infrastructure bills through Congress.
Already this week, Harris met with Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Zambia’s President Hakainde Hichilema.
On Thursday, Harris met separately with Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, delivering brief public remarks alongside each leader ahead of a series of closed-door meetings.
In her meeting with Akufo-Addo, Harris emphasized the United States’ and Ghana’s “commitment to democracy,” saying the two countries “share a view that all people must have a voice in their future, that our democracies are stronger when everyone participates and weaker when anyone is left out.”
“We also share a commitment to global health,” Harris continued. “None of us have been immune from the ravages of the pandemic. We recognize our shared responsibility to collaborate, to share resources to not only continue to address the effects of COVID-19, but to prepare for the next pandemics.”
As part of the U.S. commitment to COVAX, the Biden administration has sent nearly 1.2 million doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine to Ghana; Harris said the administration will send an additional 1.3 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to the country in the coming weeks.
“We're grateful for the support that the United States government has given us in trying to deal with the virus, the COVAX facility, which America has been very strongly participant, and the support that we've had through the donation of 1.2 million doses of the Moderna and the promise you've made that more is on the way,” Akufo-Addo said to Harris, adding that Ghana aims to vaccinate 20 million people — nearly two-thirds of its total population — by the end of the year.
Both protecting democracy and the ongoing pandemic were continued themes throughout Harris’ Thursday meetings, with the vice president and Narendra Modi discussing the importance of protecting Indo-Pacific alliances in order to promote stable governments in the region.
“As democracies around the world are under threat, it is imperative that we defend democratic principles and institutions within our respective countries and around the world, and that we maintain what we must do to strengthen democracy at home,” Harris said in part.
Modi also welcomed Harris, who on Thursday became the highest ranking official of Indian American heritage to welcome the country’s leader, to visit India, saying her election was “an important and historic event” and that she is “the source of inspiration of so many people across the world.”
Harris’ mother was born in India, and the vice president evoked her connection to the country on Thursday, saying: “I know from personal experience and from my family of the commitment of the Indian people to democracy, and the work that needs to be done, we can begin to imagine, and then actually achieve our vision for democratic principles and institutions.”
Harris and Modi’s meeting comes as global leaders grapple over power-sharing in the Indo-Pacific region, and just a week after the dramatic announcement that Australia would be dropping a contract for conventional French submarines in favor of an Anglo-American offer for nuclear-powered vessels, a bombshell that overshadowed the unveiling of the European Union’s strategy to boost political and defense ties in the Indo-Pacific.
President Joe Biden on Friday will host the leaders of Japan, India and Australia for an in-person Quadrilateral Security Dialogue for broad talks including the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change, but also how to keep the Indo-Pacific, a vast region spanning from India to Australia, “free and open,” according to the White House.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.