UNITED NATIONS, Mar 04 (APP): The Group of 77 stands for vaccines to be treated as a global public good to ensure they are made equitably available in all countries, Pakistan UN Ambassador Munir Akram, who is the chairman of the coalition of 134 developing countries designed to promote its members’ collective economic interests, has said.
He was speaking in a panel of consultations, convened by the UN General Assembly President, Abdullah Shahid, dedicated towards galvanizing action towards implementing the ground-breaking plan, known as Our Common Agenda, launched last year by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
The G77 chairman said the group supported the Secretary-General’s proposal for a global vaccination plan aimed at achieving Covid-19 vaccination worldwide by mid 2022, as he also sought clarifications on a range of UN chief’s proposals.
In this remarks, Ambassador Akram also called for immediate access for developing countries to coronavirus-related health technologies.
“We believe that intellectual property rights should be interpreted and implemented in a manner supportive of the right of states to protect public health and promote access to medicines for all,” he said.
“Beyond the Pandemic, we need to enhance productive capacities of the developing countries through access to health technologies and finances for both communicable and non-communicable disease,” the G77 chairman said, while backing t he proposal to strengthen the World Health Organization (WHO) through adequate financial resources.
On environment, he said the G77 emphasizes the primacy of existing multilateral framework for cooperation on Climate Change — the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement.
In the transition to global net-zero emission, he said the Group emphasizes that developed countries must take the lead in achieving global Net-Zero by 2050, fully recognizing that under Article 4 of Paris Agreement, developing countries will take more time to peak.
“Effective climate actions would require enhancement in the means of implementation such as expanding climate finance, greater balance between financial support for mitigation and adaptation and financial facility for loss and damage, capacity building of developing countries to access climate finance and to prepare bankable projects, as well as technology transfer.”
Ambassador Akram also said that G77 emphasizes the need for a universal, open, non-discriminatory, and equitable multilateral trading system to facilitate access to safe, diverse, and nutritious food.