Foreign Desk Report
NEW YORK: President of the Economic and Social Council Munir Akram has stressed equal access to coronavirus vaccines, medicines and medical equipment without any discrimination.
During a special session of UN General Assembly (UNGA) in response to the health crisis, Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN said that the vaccines should be provided to everyone.
“We must first ensure that the vaccine against the virus becomes available to everyone, everywhere, rich or poor, man or woman on an equitable basis with health workers, women and children and others prioritized,” he stated.
The representative further added that there must be no permission for advance purchase of the medicine.
During his speech being featured at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) special session on Coronavirus Prime Minister Imran Khan urged the international community to offer substantial help to developing countries struggling to avert economic collapse amid the coronavirus crisis.
Mr. Khan called on the global community to take action to avoid the most serious world crisis since WWII.
In his ten-point agenda he offered debt suspension for low income and most stressed countries until the end of the pandemic, as well as the cancellation of debt of the least developed nations.
He stressed that rich countries injected some $13 trillion as fiscal stimulus to revive their economies, while millions of people in developing countries may fall into extreme poverty.
“Developing countries just do not have the resources to afford such a massive economic stimulus … They are struggling to find even a fraction of the $2-3 trillion they require to recover from the pandemic,” said Khan.
He also urged to postpone the public sector debt of other developing countries under an agreed inclusive multilateral framework. Khan offered a general allocation of special drawing rights of $500 billion along with creation of a “liquidity and sustainability facility” to provide short term loans at lower costs.
According to the prime minister, the international community needs to take immediate steps to block immense illicit financial outflows from developing countries, as well as to offshore tax havens. At the same time, the assets stolen by corrupt politicians and criminals should be immediately returned to those countries.
“Without economic security, conflicts and disputes will persist and proliferate across the world. Guided by the principles of this charter, we must all work collectively for an inclusive, stable and sustainable economic, social and political order,” Khan said.
