Becoming One Of The COVAX Donors, Indonesia Hopes That The UK Will Lead The Multilateralism Of The COVID-19 Vaccine

Vaccine illustration. (Hakan Nural/Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Indonesia and Britain agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation in the fields of health, economic recovery, defense, and security.

This is in line with the increasing cooperation between Indonesia and the UK, in which Britain is Indonesia's second-largest investor, as well as the fifth-largest trading partner from Europe.

This was said by Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, when giving a virtual statement to journalists with British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab, Wednesday, April 7.

In the health sector, Foreign Minister Retno said, as one of the sources of Indonesia's COVID-19 vaccine, Britain is expected to be a leader in vaccine multilateralism and is ready to share vaccines with other countries.

"Solidarity and cooperation are the keys to getting out of this pandemic together. My hope is that the UK will continue to support the COVAX Facility", he explained.

Foreign Minister Retno said, as co-chair of the COVAX AMC Engagement Group, he has a moral obligation to promote COVAX, ensuring equal access to vaccines for all.

"Given the importance of health, I propose to include the health sector as one of the key components of our partnership forum. Where we can work together in the field of research and development of the health and pharmaceutical industries. As well as collaboration for vaccine production", he said.

Regarding the COVID-19 vaccine, British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab appreciated the work of Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi to ensure fair access to vaccines through COVAX.

Raab said that he supports cooperation related to ensuring fair access to vaccines for everyone. Raab said Britain has contributed quite a lot to the COVAX program.

"We are one of the largest donors to this initiative. We donated enough to secure one billion doses for COVAX", he explained.

Raab added that the UK also helped raise USD 1 billion through funding with other donors, assisted £ 5 million for ASEAN health and economic response, and £ 1 million for the ASEAN COVID-19 response fund.