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Jokowi to push G20 to form global health fund
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo addressed the Davos forum as this year’s host of the Group of 20, with the idea of forming a new multilateral institution to anticipate global crises modeled after the International Monetary Fund.
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President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo speaks at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland via video link from the Presidential Palace in Central Jakarta on Thursday. (Courtesy of State Secretariat/-)
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo told the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Thursday that Indonesia would push for a “permanent solution” to global health emergencies during its presidency of the Group of 20, including establishing an agency to manage global resources for future pandemics.
The President addressed the Davos forum virtually as this year’s host of the G20 with the idea of forming a new multilateral institution to anticipate global crises – one modeled after the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
He said it was important because the COVID-19 crisis had demonstrated the “vulnerability of global health resilience in all countries”.
“Indonesia’s G20 presidency will strive for the strengthening of global health resilience architecture, which will be carried out by an agency similar to the IMF in the financial sector,” he told the annual gathering of global business leaders, via video link.
Jokowi said the eventual agency would be tasked with mobilizing global health resources to provide contingency funds for global health emergencies and the procurement of things like vaccines, therapeutics and health equipment.
He noted how existing multilateral initiatives like the COVAX Facility, which has already delivered nearly 90 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Indonesia, were just “temporary solutions” and that the World Health Organization had yet to “play an important role in the strategic aspects of our daily lives”.
The pandemic, which has left in its wake a trail of death, broken health systems and a battered global economy, also set off a race among nations to protect their respective populations at the expense of collective action – including through the WHO. Countries started putting themselves first rather than working toward an effective global solution.
