The Diplomat
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, participated yesterday in the virtual meeting of the Network of Leaders for Enhanced Multilateralism, during which he warned of the need to address the profound socioeconomic impact of the pandemic and called for IMF intervention to finance the recovery of the countries that need it most.
The informal network of countries for multilateralism is so far made up of Spain and Sweden -as co-sponsors-, Bangladesh, Canada, Costa Rica, Jordan, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia. The meeting, which was also attended by the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, was promoted by Sánchez and the Prime Minister of Sweden, Stefan Löfven,
The meeting followed the High-Level Event held in Madrid on November 10, 2020, in which the leaders signed a joint Declaration entitled Together for a Strengthened Multilateralism in which they urged the implementation of the United Nations 75th Anniversary Declaration, which was approved by all UN member states in September 2020 and which represents “a real roadmap for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in the years to come”, according to Moncloa.
In his speech, the President affirmed that “the fundamental lesson” that COVID-19 has taught us was the need to “strengthen the capacity to respond to pandemics at an international level” and insisted, in this sense, that spending to strengthen the global health system should not be considered as a cost, but as “an investment” that guarantees “equitable access to vaccines”.
He also called for the profound socio-economic impact of the pandemic to be effectively addressed and for the increase in inequality to be reversed, especially in developing countries affected by the COVID-19 crisis. Specifically, Sánchez stressed the importance of providing financing for post-COVID recovery through the allocation of new IMF “special drawing rights” (the Fund’s unit of account, which entitles countries with external deficits to purchase international currencies) to help alleviate liquidity problems in countries most in need.
Finally, the President referred to the fight against climate change and called for increased national commitments to reduce emissions and to put post-COVID-19 economic recovery plans on track for a green transition.
