NEW YORK – The President of UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC),Ambassador Munir Akram of Pakistan, Wednesday, underscored the need forensuring that the initially approved coronavirus vaccines are madeavailable to everyone, everywhere, as the deadly virus had impacted theentire world.
“The vaccine must be seen as a global public good,” he told a virtualyear-end press conference while highlighting the plight of hard-hit poorand developing countries.
Noting the problems of inequitable distribution, Ambassador Akram said anemergency response was needed to generate and mobilize the financingrequired to enable the country’s foreign countries to have the fiscal spaceto recover from the impacts of the crisis.
“We need to generate additional liquidity for the developing countries,” hesaid, suggesting that this could be done through the creation of newSpecial Drawing Rights (SDRs).
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Also, the ECOSOC president said, investing in the ACT-Accelerator, and itsCOVAX Facility is the fastest way to end the pandemic and ensure asustainable economic recovery.
The huge debt burden of developing countries must be addressed to avoidinsolvency as well as providing them access to financing, especiallyconcessional financing, to avoid a liquidity crisis and combatting illicitfinancial flows.
