NEW YORK: Pakistan’s Ambassador to the UN Munir Akram has hoped that the COVID-19 vaccine will be developed soon and “Everyone, everywhere – rich or poor – must have equal access to the vaccine”.
“Over the past 75 years, for multiple reasons, the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) has struggled to fulfill the policy and coordination mandate assigned to it by the Charter,” the ambassador said while speaking at the Webinar: Virtual voices organized by World Information Transfer in his capacity as 76th ECOSOC President.
The ambassador said that never before has the fulfillment of this mandate been more challenging or more imperative as it is today.
Munir Akram said “Member States face three simultaneous global challenges” First, “the COVID pandemic and its consequences”, Second, “the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)” and Third, avoiding “the existential threat of Climate catastrophe”.
The ambassador said that the advanced countries have been able to generate nearly $10 trillion to finance their response to the COVID-19 pandemic and economic recovery while the developing countries have not been able to raise a fraction of this.
The envoy said that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has estimated they need over $2.5 trillion to respond to the COVID-19 crisis, revive economic growth and achieve the SDG targets.
Ambassador Munir Akram outlined the main priorities of the Pakistan Presidency of ECOSOC: one, mobilization of adequate finance for developing countries to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and implementation of SDG and climate goals; two, accelerated investment in sustainable infrastructure; and three, full utilization of latest technologies for achieving the SDGs.
