Hasina Urges free vaccine for poor countries

PBC Desk:  Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has urged the rich countries and international development banks to step forward with a view to aiding the least developed and developing countries to provide free COVID-19 vaccines during a virtual interaction at 14th ASEM Finance Ministers’ Meeting on Friday.

COVID-19 pandemic has nurtured the world in various extent. Hence the prime minister urged that the pandemic should be addressed globally, “We need a well-coordinated roadmap to face this crisis,” she said. The prime minister said that ,the G-7, G-20, OECD countries, multilateral development banks, and international financial institutions might play a vital role in this.

“The advanced economies also must meet their unmet promises concerning duty-free and quota-free market access, and technology support for developing countries,” she said. The world is hoping to get effective vaccines against COVID-19 “soon” and these vaccines “must be made available for all countries, especially the LDCs and developing ones, at free of cost”, Hasina said.

“The rich countries and, the MDBs and IFIs should come forward with generous support in this regard,” she added.

The prime minister also pointed out that the world economy is hit hard by the pandemic crisis with a vast majority of the people suffering from the loss of income and employment. At the end , The PM explained the countries working plan and investment for further odd atmosphere. She also detailed the percentage of GDP she put on the bait to fight the second wave.