The leaders of G20 nations held an emergency online talks on Thursday in a bid to build a united front against the coronavirus pandemic that has claimed more than 21,000 lives and triggered fears of an economic collapse.
Among the various world leaders, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also participated in the virtual video conference during which he called for a common vision for global prosperity and cooperation.
“G20 forum emerged as a leading forum to mitigate the global financial crisis, but now we have to look at the collective interest of all humankind”, PM Modi said at the meeting chaired by Saudi King Salman.
“Let’s put human beings rather than economic targets at centre of our vision for global prosperity, cooperation,” PM Modi also said.
PM Modi also joined other G20 Leaders to advance a coordinated global response to the COVID-19 pandemic as he pitched for developing new crisis management protocol and procedures for an interconnected world.
He also called for sharing freely and openly medical research for the development of humankind while suggesting to “develop a more adaptive, responsive, affordable human healthcare system to be deployed globally.”
PM Modi also sought strengthening of global organisations like World Health Organisation to deal with healthcare issues, saying “Empowering of WHO necessary for the development of effective vaccines to deal with global pandemics”.
“G20 should work together to reduce economic hardships arising out of COVID-19 pandemic,” PM said.
The latest emergency talks come amid criticism that the G20 has been slow to address the COVID-19 pandemic, which has been continued to spread rapidly around the world.
“We are injecting over $5 trillion into the global economy, as part of targeted fiscal policy, economic measures, and guarantee schemes to counteract the social, economic and financial impacts of the pandemic,” the leaders said in a joint statement.
The world’s 20 most industrialised countries are scrambling to defend their virus-wracked economies amid forecasts they will likely plunge into a recession.
On Wednesday, the financial ratings agency Moody’s estimated the G20’s overall gross domestic product would contract by 0.5 percent this year, with the US economy shrinking by 2.0 percent and the eurozone by 2.2 percent.
Source: Thanks WIONews.com