Leaders of the Group of 20 (G20) major economies on Sunday pledged "affordable and equitable access" to vaccines against the coronavirus as the global pandemic overshadowed their annual summit. "We have mobilised resources to address the immediate financing needs in global health to support the research, development, manufacturing, and distribution of safe and effective Covid-19 diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines," they said in a final declaration concluding their two-day summit held online.
Several leaders in the group had voiced their countries' willingness to cooperate on research into the production and distribution of vaccines to help fight the pandemic, a crucial step towards global economic recovery. The bloc's leaders said on Sunday they were committed to a debt suspension initiative launched in March for the least developed countries that would allow the beneficiaries to defer 14 billion dollars in debt payments due this year and its extension to June 2021.
The summit, hosted by Saudi Arabia, focused on addressing the health, economic and social impacts of the global pandemic. The group's leaders said they were determined to support developing and the least developed countries in grappling with the intertwined health, economic, and social effects of Covid-19.
"We are determined to continue to use all available policy tools as long as required to safeguard people's lives, jobs and incomes, support the global economic recovery and enhance the resilience of the financial system."