NEW YORK, US
United Nations Secretary General António Guterres has said that “pledges of doses and funds are welcome – but they are not enough. We need at least eleven billion doses to vaccinate 70 percent of the world and end this pandemic.”
The Secretary-General said this in a video message to G20 finance ministers meeting in Venice, Italy.
Guterres also warned of the threat posed by the “global vaccine gap” as COVID-19 mutates.
He further repeated his call for a Global Vaccine Plan that would double production and ensure equitable distribution of doses through the COVAX solidarity mechanism.
The UN Chief also urged the world’s largest economies to spearhead a global COVID-19 vaccination plan, expand debt relief to developing countries battered by the pandemic, and step up funding for climate action.
"To restore trust in multilateralism, we need to deliver on vaccines, economic recovery and climate finance.” Guterres said.
"With your leadership and political will, we can do it.” He added.
The Finance Ministers and Central Bank chiefs were also urged to support a new $50 billion investment roadmap, announced last month and to be led by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), aimed at ending the pandemic and driving a fast recovery.
As many developing countries are “teetering on the verge of debt default”, the Secretary-General encouraged the G20 to channel unused Special Drawing Rights, a type of foreign reserve asset developed by the IMF, to the Fund’s new resilience and sustainability plan for these nations.
"Special Drawing Rights also need to be considered as additional funding, not deducted from Official Development Assistance,” he added.
No comments:
Post a Comment