At The APEC Informal Summit, Jokowi Emphasizes The Need For Global Cooperation To Overcome COVID-19

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) discussed the importance of handling the COVID-19 pandemic together at the Informal Summit (KTT) for Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). (HO-Press Bureau of the Presidential Secretariat/Lukas)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) called for the importance of solidarity and cooperation between countries in the world to jointly fight the COVID-19 pandemic at the Informal Summit (KTT) on Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), Friday evening, July 16.

President Jokowi also underlined the importance of the world to ensure global vaccination efforts, including reducing the vaccination gap. "In this regard, the President hopes that APEC can contribute to closing the global vaccination gap, including through dose sharing through the Covax Facility," said Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi in a press statement on the Presidential Secretariat Youtube which was witnessed in Jakarta, Friday night, after accompanying President Jokowi. in the meeting.

Gap

President Jokowi said that currently the vaccination gap in the world is still quite wide. This gap can be seen from the data on injection of vaccine doses in the ASEAN region which only reached 17.63 percent of the population, in the African region it was only 4.3 percent of the population.

Meanwhile, in North America and Europe, they accounted for 77.73 percent and 76.81 percent of the total population, respectively.

According to the President, epidemiological considerations must always be the main basis and not considerations of political influence, including in this vaccine issue.

The President also said in his speech that APEC should encourage an increase in global vaccine production. "There are several strategies that must be carried out, namely diversifying vaccine production to developing countries, eliminating trade barriers related to vaccine raw materials, then supporting the TRIPS waiver to overcome the pandemic, and transferring the latest vaccine technology," explained the Foreign Minister as quoted by Antara.

President Jokowi. (Doc. HO-Presidential Secretariat Press Bureau/Lukas)

In his speech, President Jokowi also emphasized that economic recovery is impossible if the pandemic is not over. For this reason, he continued, health recovery must come first so that the fight against COVID-19 can be won immediately.

President Jokowi also explained about the main policies of the Indonesian government at this time, including the policy of Enforcement of Restrictions on Community Activities (PPKM) throughout Java and Bali, as well as cities experiencing a spike in cases.

In addition, President Jokowi also conveyed efforts to strengthen health services, including building emergency hospitals, efforts to meet the needs of oxygen and medicines, and accelerating national vaccinations. "In the context of vaccines, the President said that currently more than 55 million doses of vaccine have been injected in Indonesia and vaccination will continue to be accelerated in Indonesia. So far, Indonesia has received 142,973,880 doses of vaccine, both in bulk and in the form of ready-made vaccines, " said the Foreign Minister.

President Jokowi ended his speech by saying that the world's challenges ahead are still tough and must be overcome together. "Only with solidarity and cooperation will the world be able to get out of the COVID-19 pandemic and be able to rise together," said the Foreign Minister.