Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi), during the second session of the G20 Summit, urged G20 countries to make additional contributions to the Pandemic Fund to support the financing mechanism for pandemic prevention and control.
"The G20 has succeeded in establishing the Pandemic Fund. This must be followed by additional funding contributions to function optimally, including Indonesia's contribution, which has committed US$50 million," he said at the second session of the G20 Summit, which took place at the Apurva Kempinski, here on Tuesday.
The Pandemic Fund, which had been proposed since the Italian G20 presidency, was successfully formed and launched during Indonesia's G20 presidency this year, mainly as a result of a series of meetings between the ministers of health and the ministers of finance over the past year.
During the second working session of the G20 Summit, the leaders of member countries and several leaders of international organizations, such as the director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and World Bank president David Malpass discussed a host of issues related to the global health architecture.
At a closed discussion, state leaders were scheduled to discuss, among other things, the Pandemic Fund, which was officially launched by President Widodo in Nusa Dua, Bali, on November 13, 2022.
The Pandemic Fund, as a financing mechanism established by G20 countries, will involve the support of the World Bank as a depository of funds and the WHO in the capacity of an advisory/expert agency for providing inputs regarding the fund’s utilization for countries to prevent, prepare, and respond to future pandemics.
So far, the Pandemic Fund has raised around US$1.4 billion or around Rp21.7 trillion from 24 donors, consisting of 21 countries and 3 philanthropic institutions.
The countries and institutions that have committed to contributing to the Pandemic Fund include the European Commission, the United States of America, Italy, Indonesia, China, Japan, Germany, Canada, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, Spain, Australia, Singapore, Norway, New Zealand, India, the Netherlands, France, and South Africa. Meanwhile, the three philanthropic institutions are the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Rockefeller, and the Wellcome Trust.
At the second session of the G20 Summit, Saudi Arabia, France, and Australia are expected to directly announce their commitments for the Pandemic Fund.
During Tuesday’s second session, President Widodo reminded G20 countries to continue to increase their funding contributions because, based on the results of WHO and World Bank studies, at least US$31.1 billion is needed annually to prevent and respond to the threat of future pandemics.
He also asked G20 countries to oversee the formation of the Pandemic Treaty.
"This is important to strengthen preparation at the national, regional, and global levels," he said.
Editor : Abdullah Rifai
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