Chitral Times Report
ISLAMABAD: Ambassador Munir Akram, in his capacity as President ECOSOC of the United Nations briefed the press today on various strategies in responding to COVID-19 driven economic and social challenges. Ambassador Munir Akram said that: “we are suffering from grim crisis and facing another grim day in the fight against the coronavirus as the World Health Organization is recording a total death toll of 1.6 million people and millions have been infected and are suffering”. “As the toll rises, we continue to deal also with severe disruptions in societies and economies around the world with deep impacts on health, education, economic growth, financial displacement and stress and breakdowns of social systems”: he expressed concern. “And it is painfully obvious that the poor amongst us, the poorest countries and the poorest people in those countries have been hit hardest with the loss of jobs and livelihoods: he added. “Businesses especially small businesses are struggling to keep afloat” : he said. He informed further that: “There are reports that over 20 countries are facing food insecurity and there is a danger of famine in some of them. Public health systems in developing countries are under stress. He suggested that: “We need to fight the virus and the consequences of the virus. “We have initial approval for some of the vaccines that have been developed in record time. And we must ensure this vaccine becomes available to everyone, everywhere to make sure poor man or woman on an equitable basis”: he stressed. Stressing further the need of equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccine, he said that: “The vaccine must be seen as a global public good. WHO Director General Mr. Tedros said, “No one is saved until everyone is safe”. “It is also in every country’s national and economic self-interest to work together to ensure that the tests are done, treatments are coded, a vaccine is available to all who need it, so that we are able to deal with this virus on a global basis”, he said. “The Act, the accelerator, which is called Covax facilities is a groundbreaking collaboration between WHO and international parties to accelerate global access to tools that can rapidly reduce risk of severe disease and help in the acute phase of the pandemic” : he informed. Citing the problems and challenges ahead of COVID-19 vaccine, he said: “We face problems in the equitable distribution of vaccines that become available. The first issue is the advanced purchase agreements that can be made by some. And if economic nationalism prevails once again, it could become an impediment in the distribution of the vaccine admittedly. The second issue is intellectual property constraints, which could hinder a fair distribution of, the widest possible distribution. And the third problem, is the supply arrangements, which obviously are detrimental or disadvantage, the developing countries where the vaccine is not being produced”. “I believe that support for the Covax facility and similar facilities are being contemplated will be important. And we hope that these will act with transparency and equity in the distribution of the vaccine: he hoped. But the consequences of the COVID virus impacts are economic and social and to deal with those consequences, we need to have an emergency response, and a structural response” : he suggested. “Emergency Response basically is to generate and mobilize the financing, that is required to enable the poorer countries to have the fiscal space to recover from the impacts of the COVID crisis”: Ambassador Munir Akram added. “These emergency financing requirements are obvious and have been announced by the Secretary General, together with Jamaica and Canada and these responses. Firstly, the alleviation of the crushing debt of developing countries. Five developing countries have defaulted on their debt. Many more may follow. There could be collapse, businesses, and entire economies, as a result”: he added. “Secondly, we need to generate additional liquidity for the developing countries. And the easiest way to inject the additional liquidity would be the creation of new SDRs by the IMF and the 3 redistribution of existing unutilized quotas of SDRs to those developing countries, which needs liquidity. The private sector creditors must join the efficient creditors who have declared a suspension of debt, until the end of June. The G20 has taken the decision and get the welcome decision. We need support for the Covax facility they are short of $5 billion. We need support for the Secretary General’s emergency humanitarian program, out of a ask for a billion dollars or close to a billion dollars the funding has been disappointing. It has it is only about 140 million so far. And we need to make up that emergency finance”: he said. He urged that: “We need developed countries to live up to their commitments to 0.7% only a target. These are some of the emergency measures that you need to take to enable developing countries to recover from the crisis”: he said. “Developed countries have injected $13 trillion to revive their economies, developing countries are struggling to find the fraction of the two to 3 trillion, that they need for COVID recovery”: he said further. He also stressed on structural change apart from the emergency financing. “The Secretary General has remarked that the hallmark of our times is inequality, “the response to the pandemic and to the widespread discontent that preceded it must be based on the new social contract, and the new global deal that creates equal opportunities for all respects the rights and freedoms of all”: he quoted. “And we need structural change in the financial architecture. We need to align the international trade regime, with the SDGs”: he added. “We need a fair tax, international taxation system, where corporations are not able to shift profits to avoid tax: he stressed. “We need a halt illicit financial flows, which takes away $300 billion every year from developing countries to save havens, mostly in developed countries. These are some of the structural issues that need to be addressed”: he said. Another important aspect he mentioned was the need for investment in sustainable infrastructure. “If we are to build back better as the Secretary General has said and to build a new green economy, which prevents and avoids the climate disaster that is facing us. We need to invest in sustainable infrastructure, and to move away from the fossil fuel economy”: he said. “The requirements for infrastructure investment annually are estimated to be about $1.5. trillion. So, at the present moment in before the COVID crisis multilateral and bilateral sources were investing, only about $70. billion in infrastructure in the developing countries”: he added. “There is therefore need to accelerate this to identify and build projects in developing countries on sustainable energy, sustainable agriculture, sustainable transport and housing, If we are to build back, better, so that they do not build back to the same patterns that have caused so much disaster in the world”: he said. He informed about his initiative as president ECOSOC of the establishment of a facility to be a public private partnership to accelerate sustainable infrastructure investment in developing countries. “We need to utilize science and technology and innovation to build back better, to recover from the pandemic, and to promote the Sustainable Development Goals”: he said. He informed Firstly, finance. Secondly, sustainable infrastructure investment. And thirdly, the utilization of science and technology as focus of his ambition. “The experience of the vaccine has showed that when we have a clear target for innovation, we are able to mobilize the resources and the research efforts to achieve that target. The COVID vaccine has been developed within 10 months or so. Similarly, we need to identify what are the innovations, what are the scientific breakthroughs, what are the available technologies that need to be applied for the promotion of the sustainable development goals”: he said. “I believe that such identification is possible and then once we have such an identification and effort could be made to the research and development institutions, especially public research institutions across the world to endeavor to make those breakthroughs. Secondly, we need to see how to align the intellectual property regime, with the SDGs. At the moment, there have been some exceptions and as we all know, the intellectual property rights, intellectual property regime patterns can act as a constraint on the ability of developing countries to apply those technologies. Those technologies that are available. It’s therefore important to see which technologies are critical for the Sustainable Development Goals, to eliminate hunger to eliminate poverty and to address some of the climate disasters. We need to make a database of such technologies and to see how we can facilitate their application and ease the intellectual property constraints that act to impede such application”: he said. And last but not least, in the sphere of technology, we need to digitalize, the economies of the developing countries” : he added. “Connectivity in the industrial countries is over 80%, connectivity in the developing countries is less than 20%. And therefore, 80% of the populations of developing countries today under lockdowns, they are in the dark. They are left behind. They have no ability to communicate to conduct commerce, to conduct business, to be able to lead a normal life. Because they are actually virtually and physically. Therefore, the digitalization, the closing of the gap, the digital gap between developed and developing countries between vulnerable populations, women, children, minorities and majorities. I think those gaps, the digital gaps, need to be addressed and overcome and this requires a current consciousness effort. The Secretary General has a set out a roadmap. We need to flesh that roadmap out, we need to identify precise actions that are required in financing intellectual property, and other constraints that are, that impede the preaching of the digital divide. So, these are processes, which I have launched, we have informal consultations in the wake on most of these processes. I have appointed co facilitators for this science and technology event”: he informed further. “I will be appointing facilitators on financing for development. And these will all come together in the various forums that ECOSOC will convene in the next year. Firstly, the financing for development forum in April. The Science and Technology, SDI forum in May, the development cooperation forum. And lastly, the high-level political forum which will be held in July. So, the processes, the objectives and ambitions are that I have outlined as main objectives for ECOSOC this year, these will all come together in these forums. And finally, in the high-level political forum. And I hope we will be able to agree on an ambitious program on ambitious decisions that can enable the international community to respond to crisis that has been stopped by COVID, but also to respond to the challenge of the SDGs. And the challenge of climate change that we are all converging” he concluded.
