The foreign ministers of the Group of Twenty (G20) on Tuesday called for multilateral solutions to global crises such as the "Covid-19" pandemic and climate change, in their first face-to-face meeting in two years.
The one-day meeting in Matera, Italy, focused on reviving the global economy in the wake of the pandemic and promoting development in Africa.
For his part, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken considered that multilateralism will be "essential" to confront the crisis caused by the "Covid-19" epidemic.
At the beginning of the meeting, he said, "Multilateral coordination will be essential to our collective ability to end this global health crisis," expressing a radical change in his country's position compared to the administration of former President Donald Trump.
"This also applies to the work we need to do to promote global health safety so that we can better monitor, prevent and respond to future health crises," he added.
"To end the epidemic, we have to get more vaccines. The Kovacs multilateral initiative ensures that vaccines are distributed fairly and reach the countries that need them most."
The G20 summit was held in Matera, Italy (Anatolia)
Help Africa
For his part, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Christophe Lotondola, who was invited to the meeting, called for "urgent steps" to be taken to "reverse the current trend" in Africa, especially by developing "the local production capacity of vaccines" and by increasing the "capacity to conduct examinations in countries". that do not have the necessary products and laboratories.”
He concluded by saying that only in this way will we be able to "help African countries face the shock of Covid and revive their economies for the benefit of the international community."
Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio, whose country is currently chairing the Group of Twenty, expressed support for "effective multilateralism under the auspices of the United Nations," recalling that "Italy was one of the first countries to call for an international coalition to respond to the health epidemic."
He stressed that "the Italian presidency of the G20 sets itself the goal, through multilateralism, of combating the health, social and economic impact of the epidemic in order to promote a sustainable, comprehensive and solid recovery."