COVID-19 vaccine should be free for LDCs, developing countries: PM
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday said the wealthy nations, multilateral development banks (MDBs) and international finance institutions (IFIs) should extend their support generously so least developed countries (LDCs) and developing nations get free usage of the vaccine for COVID-19.
“We are hoping the world will probably get effective vaccines against COVID-19 soon. These vaccines must be offered for all countries, especially the LDCs and developing ones, at free of cost,” she said.
“The rich countries and, the MDBs and IFIs should come forward with generous support in this regard,” said the Prime Minister while inaugurating the 14th international conference of the Finance Ministers of ASEM member countries today.
Bangladesh hosted the meeting on virtual platform that your Prime Minister opened by delivering a pre-recorded video message.
The meeting’s theme is “Addressing COVID-19: Ensuring a solid, Sustainable, Inclusive and Balanced Recovery”.
Emphasizing on more collaboration to conquer any hurdle on the road of prosperity during this difficult time, Sheikh Hasina said “not isolation but collaboration might help overcome any crisis.”
And the advanced economies must fulfill their unmet promises concerning duty-free and quota-free market access together with technology support for developing countries, she added.
Urging the G-7, G-20, OECD countries, MDBs and IFIs to play their essential role to bail out the damaged LDCs and developing nations, she said they will have to come forward with increasing fiscal stimulus, concessional finance and credit card debt relief measures.
The Prime Minister said the COVID-19 pandemic has wrought devastated impacts on medical systems and the economies of most countries.
The world economy specially the LDCs and developing countries will be the worst-hit by the pandemic and vast majority of the people are suffering from loss of income and employment, she said.
Sheikh Hasina said poverty situation is worsening and health sector is facing serious challenges while progress in obtaining SDGs and hard-earned prosperity of all countries is at stake.
About Bangladesh’s efforts for advancing its economy, the Prime Minister said Bangladesh achieved a sustained high growth in last one decade and in addition attained tremendous progress in a few socio-economic indicators.
The government also adopted “Vision 2041” looking to elevate Bangladesh to an upper middle income country by 2031 and a developed one by 2041, she said, adding the united states was well on track to achieve SDGs.
However the pandemic made a serious dent on the advancements despite her government’s all out efforts to support the spread of coronavirus, she said.
A large stimulus package premiered to recuperate from the financial losses, she continued.
Sheikh Hasina elaborated her government has up to now announced 21 stimulus packages equal to US$ 14.14 billion for various sectors of the country’s economy in addition to support to different segments of the society.
The Prime Minister expressed satisfaction as the economy has started recovering after suffering a short setback for few months.
In this regard, she highlighted latest trends in the export, remittance and agricultural production which indicate that the economy is now getting back on the right track towards the sustained growth path.
Finance Minister AHM Mostafa Kamal gave the welcome address while Vice Presidents of World Bank and ADB as well as IMF’s Deputy Director for the Asia-Pacific region delivered keynote speeches at the conference.
Finance Ministers, Advisors for the Ministry of Finance as well as advanced representatives of the ASEM member states including Australia, India, Germany, Spain, Poland, Bulgaria, Thailand, Japan, China, Myanmar, Indonesia and Singapore joined the function.
The Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) can be an intergovernmental process established in 1996 to foster dialogue and cooperation between Asia and Europe.
ASEM comprises 53 Partners: 30 European and 21 Parts of asia, europe and the ASEAN Secretariat.
