Politics

G20 pledges funds to guarantee access to COVID-19 vaccine

Riyadh, Nov 22 (efe-epa).- The G20 on Sunday pledged funds to guarantee access to the coronavirus vaccine for the world’s poorest countries at the end of a two-day virtual summit held with Saudi Arabia holding the organization’s presidency and hosting the summit.

The G20 will contribute the funds needed for the COVAX initiative to finance the poorest countries so that they can receive vaccines against Covid-19.

The initiative will require $28 billion in funding, including $4.2 billion by the end of this year.

“We commit to addressing the remaining global financing needs,” the group’s final communique read.

The text, however, does not include new measures to ease the situation the poor countries have been experiencing although this was one of the most important topics on the agenda of several summit participants.

The final statement mentioned other measures the group has adopted this year, including suspending the least developed countries’ debt until mid-2021, ignoring calls by the United Nations to extend the deadline through next year.

The communique called on the International Monetary Fund “to prepare an analysis of the external financing needs in low income developing countries in the coming years and sustainable financing options.”

“We are committed to safeguarding our planet and building a more environmentally sustainable and inclusive future for all people,” the statement added.

However, when it comes to the fight against climate change, particularly the Paris Pact, the support will be limited to the signatory countries, albeit excluding the United States given that President Donald Trump broke with the other nations at the 2019 summit.

“The Paris accord was not designed to save the environment. It was designed to kill the American economy,” Trump said on Sunday on the sidelines of the summit.

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