The money a new G20 fund has so far raised to improve preparedness for future pandemics was not yet sufficient, Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Sunday told the fund’s official launch ceremony.
The fund is targeted at low to middle-income countries to finance efforts such as surveillance, research and better access to vaccines, among others measures.
“I expect bigger support,” the president said in a video address to an event in Bali, Indonesia, where the G20 holds a summit.
Photo: Reuters
The fund, launched by G20 chair Indonesia, has raised about US$1.4 billion so far, including contributions from Indonesia, the US and the EU, as well as from philanthropic organizations, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
It was created amid anger among many developing countries over their experience during the COVID-19 pandemic, when richer countries often hoarded the bulk of resources, such as vaccines, to fight the virus.
The World Bank, which is to serve as the fund’s trustee, and the WHO, which is advising on the facility, estimated in a report that the annual funding gap for pandemic preparedness is US$10.5 billion.
Photo: Reuters
Indonesian Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati said the fund is expected to increase in size with contributions from France and Saudi Arabia, but did not specify by how much.
She called for proposals from countries looking to access the fund.
DENIAL: Pyongyang said a South Korean drone filmed unspecified areas in a North Korean border town, but Seoul said it did not operate drones on the dates it cited North Korea’s military accused South Korea of flying drones across the border between the nations this week, yesterday warning that the South would face consequences for its “unpardonable hysteria.” Seoul quickly denied the accusation, but the development is likely to further dim prospects for its efforts to restore ties with Pyongyang. North Korean forces used special electronic warfare assets on Sunday to bring down a South Korean drone flying over North Korea’s border town. The drone was equipped with two cameras that filmed unspecified areas, the General Staff of the North Korean People’s Army said in a statement. South Korea infiltrated another drone
COMMUNIST ALIGNMENT: To Lam wants to combine party chief and state presidency roles, with the decision resting on the election of 200 new party delegates next week Communist Party of Vietnam General Secretary To Lam is seeking to combine his party role with the state presidency, officials said, in a move that would align Vietnam’s political structure more closely to China’s, where President Xi Jinping (習近平) heads the party and state. Next week about 1,600 delegates are to gather in Hanoi to commence a week-long communist party congress, held every five years to select new leaders and set policy goals for the single-party state. Lam, 68, bade for both top positions at a party meeting last month, seeking initial party approval ahead of the congress, three people briefed by
Indonesia and Malaysia have become the first countries to block Grok, the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot developed by Elon Musk’s xAI, after authorities said it was being misused to generate sexually explicit and nonconsensual images. The moves reflect growing global concern over generative AI tools that can produce realistic images, sound and text, while existing safeguards fail to prevent their abuse. The Grok chatbot, which is accessed through Musk’s social media platform X, has been criticized for generating manipulated images, including depictions of women in bikinis or sexually explicit poses, as well as images involving children. Regulators in the two Southeast Asian
ICE DISPUTE: The Trump administration has sought to paint Good as a ‘domestic terrorist,’ insisting that the agent who fatally shot her was acting in self-defense Thousands of demonstrators chanting the name of the woman killed by a US federal agent in Minneapolis, Minnesota, took to the city’s streets on Saturday, amid widespread anger at use of force in the immigration crackdown of US President Donald Trump. Organizers said more than 1,000 events were planned across the US under the slogan “ICE, Out for Good” — referring to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is drawing growing opposition over its execution of Trump’s effort at mass deportations. The slogan is also a reference to Renee Good, the 37-year-old mother shot dead on Wednesday in her
RSS