G20 Countries Agree to Boost Cooperation in Vaccine, Drug Development
The 2nd G20 Extraordinary Sherpa virtual meeting is held on Friday (24/7). (Photo by: Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs PR).
During the 2nd G20 Extraordinary Sherpa virtual meeting held Friday (24/7), the G20 countries agreed to renew commitment to boost cooperation on developing easily accessible and affordable vaccines and medicines, as well as on measures to speed up global economic recovery.
To date, countries worldwide have taken extraordinary steps and implemented policy strategies both in fiscal and monetary aspects.
Indonesia’s G20 sherpa, Deputy Chief for international economic cooperation at the Office of Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Rizal Affandi Lukman who joined the meeting said that the meeting raised the issues of the COVID-19 handling, development of the latest issues under the G20 Working Groups, as well as inputs on the G20 Summit Outcome element slated to be held in November this year.
Rizal also said that Indonesia is taking comprehensive extraordinary steps to tackle the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“In terms of health aspect, Indonesia continues to boost increased cooperation on vaccine development and distribution of medicines that are easily affordable and accessible to all levels of society,” he said.
Along with health care measures, according to Rizal, aspects of national economic recovery also continue to be taken into account aimed to protect and maintain stability of national economy, distribution of socio-economic assistance to those affected, and encourage increased capacity of real and financial sector business players.
In the meantime, in preparing the outcome elements of the G20 Summit, Indonesia’s G20 sherpa delivered several inputs, including ensuring security and increasing support for health workers, encouraging smooth distribution of goods and services amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, and promoting the principles of lawfulness, fairness, and data transparency in data exchange to avoid data leakage in digital economy issues.
“We also pay attention to the increased cooperation in the efforts to address climate change and boost investment to improve the livelihoods of farmers, particularly small-scale agriculture and family farming,” he said.
For the record, the meeting was chaired by Saudi Arabia’s G20 sherpas as the G20 Presidency this year and attended by all G20 sherpas, as well as representatives from Regional and International Financial/Development Cooperation Organizations and Institutions. (Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs PR/ EN)
Translator: Muhardi
Reviewed by: M. Ersan Pamungkas
