Latin America and Australia called at the UN Annual General Assembly for the solidarity of the great powers to survive the Covid-19 pandemic, notably through free access to future vaccines and to international credits The Latin region has some nine million sick and more than 330,000 dead in six months, according to an AFP count based on official data.
"Faced with the pandemic, like poverty, no one will get out of it alone,"
Argentinian President Alberto Fernandez said in his speech this week, asking for help from the international community.
Due to the risk of contagion, the Assembly is being held this year in an essentially virtual manner, with pre-recorded video speeches.
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Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Mexico and Argentina are among the ten countries in the world with the highest number of recorded cases of Covid-19.
In their interventions, Latin American leaders have often expressed concern for easy access to future vaccines.
"They must be declared global public goods,"
stressed the presidents of Argentina and Peru.
Australia added its voice to the request on Friday.
If a vaccine is not universal, history will be
"a harsh judge"
, predicted Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, taking the opposite view of the United States, which resist a global collaboration on the subject.
"When it comes to the vaccine, Australia's position is very clear: whoever finds it must share it,"
he insisted.
“This is a global responsibility and a moral responsibility”
.
"Some may see it as a short-term benefit, even a profit, but let them be well aware that mankind will remember it for a long time and be a very severe judge
," he added.
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Along the same lines, Chile urged the world powers to stop
"constantly clashing"
to
"lead the fight against this pandemic and the global recession"
, alluding to the developing Sino-US confrontation.
"In health, this includes sharing diagnostics and knowledge, coordinating border openings and closures, joining forces for the development and availability of an effective and safe vaccine, and working with countries. the most vulnerable, ”
Chilean President Sebastian Pinera said.
"Only in this way will we be able to have vaccines and technologies without patents, distributed equitably, with particular attention to the most vulnerable"
, added his Ecuadorian counterpart Lenin Moreno.
Several countries have also called for a revision of the criteria for the allocation of international credits and asked for moratoria on debts.
"No country can pay its debt by leaving its population without health, education, security or capacity for growth,"
summed up the Argentine president.
The pandemic
"will worsen poverty, inequalities and unemployment"
, predicted the Ecuadorian president, insisting on the need to benefit from
"multilateral financial and technical support"
.
