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Indonesia calls for unity, inclusiveness at G20 meeting
Indonesia's top diplomat reiterated the importance of setting aside differences among the world's major economies in providing early and equitable global access to COVID-19 tests, treatments and vaccines as a means to overcome the pandemic.
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Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi gives a press statement at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Banten, on the outskirts of Jakarta, on Monday night. (Courtesy of /BPMI Setpres/Kris)
Indonesia called for unity and inclusiveness at the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting this week amid persistent coronavirus challenges, more than a year since the pandemic first started and intensified global rivalries.
Speaking at the meeting in Matera, Italy on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said the world had no choice but to make multilateralism and global governance work if it wanted to overcome COVID-19 challenges.
“The G20 must be able to function as a catalyst for strengthening multilateralism and send the singular message that the world must move forward together,” she said in a statement issued after the meeting.
One of the more salient cases is vaccine production and distribution, she said, as many countries believe the jabs should be considered “global public goods” and that in order to realize this goal, G20 countries and otherwise must deepen their respective multilateral commitments.
These include committing more vaccine dose sharing through the equitable distribution COVAX Facility and supporting a proposed patent waiver to temporarily suspend intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines and related therapeutic drugs.
Another is to participate in financing the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, another global collaboration aimed at fast-tracking the development and production of and equitable access to COVID-19 tests, treatments and vaccines.
Indonesia’s call comes amid growing tensions among COVID-19 technology-producing countries, who must weigh the economic losses of individual manufacturers in making crucial and timely innovations freely accessible against the collective effort to end the pandemic sooner.
