Antonio Guterres urges G20 to act on vaccine equity, debt relief.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged G20 member states to close the Covid-19 vaccine gap, provide debt relief to developing economies and finance climate action.
Guterres made the remarks while addressing the third meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors in Venice, Italy, reports Xinhua news agency.
Stéphane Dujarric, the chief spokesman for the UN chief, said Friday’s meeting took place behind closed doors.
Dujarric said the Secretary-General reiterated his call for a global immunization plan to at least double the production of vaccines and ensure equitable distribution, using COVAX as the platform.
Guterres said that many developing countries are on the verge of repaying the debt.
He called on the G20 to expand the debt service suspension initiative and the general framework for debt treatment to include vulnerable middle-income countries and small island developing states.
On climate change, Guterres said he was deeply concerned at the lack of progress on public climate funding and once again called on the G20 to raise $100 billion annually for developing countries, as agreed in 2009.
The spokesman said Guterres told ministers that work needed to be done on vaccines, economic recovery and climate finance to restore confidence in multilateralism.
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