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SINGAPORE – Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong called on Wednesday (February 24) for international cooperation to ensure that all countries, including developing ones, have access to tested Covid-19 vaccines.
In a pre-recorded video message for a world conference broadcast live on YouTube, Mr. Lee said Singapore is also discussing vaccine certification with interested countries as a way to resume travel.
The Director General of the World Health Organization, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus; the United States’ special presidential envoy for climate, John Kerry; and the President of the European Commission, Mrs. Ursula von der Leyen, were among those attending the conference.
Actor Hugh Jackman and singer-songwriter Billie Ellish provided the star of the event, which kicked off the new campaign, A Plan of Recovery for the World, by international advocacy group Global Citizen, which will focus on five key areas.
The areas are ending Covid-19 for all, ending the hunger crisis, resuming learning everywhere, protecting the planet, and promoting equity for all.
The campaign comes amid tentative signs that the world is recovering from Covid-19, and as governments and industry leaders reconsider entrenched modes of production and resource allocation.
In his 1.5-minute speech, Lee said: “In a crisis, it is natural to turn inward. But a pandemic knows no borders. No country is truly safe until we all are.”
“Even as each of us prepares to secure our own supply (of vaccines), we must cooperate internationally so that all countries, including developing countries, have access to vaccines for their people.”
He added that Singapore supported the independent high-level G-20 panel, created in January to study how to better fund the world’s preparedness against future pandemics.
“We look forward to practical and actionable recommendations from the panel,” Lee said. “Let’s strengthen our collective response to achieve a more inclusive and sustainable recovery for all.”
Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for Social Policy Tharman Shanmugaratnam is co-chairing the panel, along with former US Secretary of the Treasury Lawrence Summers and former Nigerian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Finance Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
Last year, the European Commission and Global Citizen jointly launched another campaign: Global Goal: United For Our Future.
It brought together artists and 40 governments and organizations to provide 250 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines to the world’s poorest countries, and raised US $ 236 million (S $ 312 million) to enhance the effect of the pandemic on underserved communities. .
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