A senior Pakistan envoy has stressed the need for partnerships to effectively combat the global pandemic Covid 19, and called upon all nations to work together to prevent millions from descending into extreme poverty and destitution.

 “If ever there was need for partnership, it is now,” said Pakistan’s UN envoy Munir Akram, Dawn reported.

“This means helping the poorest people with direct and indirect economic support and social safety nets. “It means providing the poorest countries with fiscal space through debt relief, emergency grants and concession financing to save lives and livelihoods,” he said.

Addressing the annual Partnership Forum, organised by the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), Ambassador Akram outlined several areas where partnerships could be used to contain Covid-19 and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The envoy, who is also ECOSOC’s president, said defeating the pandemic should be the top priority for all nations. To do so, the international community must ensure universal and equitable access to vaccines and related materials, equipment and technologies, he added.

He noted that while richer countries had devoted some $17 trillion to revive their economies, developing nations needed around USD 4.3 trillion not only to recover from the pandemic but to get back on the path to sustainable development.

Global partnerships, he said, must help promote financing solutions such as debt restructuring, low-interest loans and greater foreign investment, the Dawn report said.

(SAM)