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 In a joint statement, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and
Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said an upcoming
forum of health and finance ministers at the G20 summit in Rome is a
political window to act to prevent the next pathogen from becoming a
pandemic.
"We must not lose this opportunity to demonstrate leadership with a
decisive commitment to act," they said.
"We have all personally grappled with the deep human and economic
cost brought on by this borderless, unforgiving pandemic. And while
we are making progress in fighting COVID-19, we also face a stark
reality: this will not be the last pandemic."
COVID-19 has killed 5.2 million people and infected 244 million
globally, according to Reuters data. The United States and
Indonesia, which have similar size populations, have been among the
worst affected in their respective regions.
The G20 includes the United States, Japan, Britain, Russia, Brazil,
China, Germany, Canada, Australia and South Korea, among others.
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 The joint statement said the
pandemic exposed a lack of readiness by
countries and limited international
coordination, so a global mechanism for
detection, prevention and information sharing
was essential, to support the work of the World
Health Organization.
It called for greater inclusiveness and less
bureaucracy and said a joint response was
critical for poorer counties that lack resources
to respond fast, including with vaccinations.
"Those countries ... have a particular need for
the international community to rally behind this
initiative. The cost of not doing so would be
devastating," it said.
(Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by James
Pearson)
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