World leaders call for COVID-19 vaccine equity

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UNCTAD’s quadrennial conference, UNCTAD15, calls for vaccine equity and greater solidarity to tackle trade protectionism, debt distress, the climate crisis and other pressing global challenges.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres described the conference , held in Bridgetown, Barbados, as the “Olympics of trade, development, investment, policy and technology discussions” and reiterated his call to world leaders to tackle “the cascade of crises” facing humanity.

He said the COVID-19 pandemic had wreaked havoc across the global economy, disrupting the three powerful economic engines of trade, manufacturing and transportation.

Mr. Guterres decried the uneven economic recovery unfolding across the world. “In all, more than eight out of every ten dollars in recovery investment is being spent in developed countries — not in the countries in greatest need,” he said.

He warned that the uneven recovery was leaving much of humanity behind. “And until we get serious about vaccine equity, recovery will be stuck at the starting gate,” he said.

Secretary-General Guterres pointed out four glaring challenges, which if not addressed would make any notion of prosperity for all a distant dream.

“Debt distress. Systems starved for investment. Unfair trade. And a climate emergency that leaves small island developing states like Barbados perilously vulnerable,” he said.

He urged countries to make bold commitments at the upcoming UN climate summit (COP26) and donors and multilateral development banks to allocate at least 50% of their climate support towards adaptation and resilience.

UNCTAD Secretary-General Rebeca Grynspan said the world stands at a critical point in the history of multilateralism amid the many challenges facing it.

She warned that many developing regions are facing the prospect of another “lost decade”, and the reversal of their hard-won progress in the combat against poverty, inequality, food insecurity and gender inequality due to the pandemic.

Ms. Grynspan also raised an alarm over the deeply divergent recovery, with advanced countries growing and vaccinating at rates many times greater than those in the developing world.

She said advanced countries are already discussing third doses, while least developed countries (LDCs) have only vaccinated 2% of their population.

Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley of Barbados underlined UNCTAD’s critical role in championing the interests of the most vulnerable countries as they chart a new path to recovery from COVID-19.

She criticized the international community for not doing much in dealing with the climate crisis, which poses an existential threat to island nations, and debt, which undermines the ability of SIDS to sustain their economies.

Prime Minister Mottley expressed hope that the “Bridgetown Covenant” from UNCTAD15 would provide a framework for moving from actions to concrete results in tackling these challenges.

Similarly , Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta urged the global community to come together to work towards a functional multilateral system.

“No single government or multilateral agency can address global threats alone,” he said. “We must work together in solidarity if we are to succeed.”

The conference taking place under the theme “From inequality and vulnerability to prosperity for all” is the UN’s first major conference on trade and development during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a release issued by UNCTAD today.

5 Oct. 2021