President Yoon: "We Will Support the International Community to End COVID-19... Contributing $300 Million" (Comprehensive)

Attended the 2nd Global COVID-19 Summit... First Multilateral Diplomatic Stage
Yoon Urges "More Countries Must Unite to Overcome COVID-19"

President Yoon Suk-yeol attended the 2nd Global COVID-19 Summit held on the 12th, marking his first multilateral diplomatic stage. President Yoon pledged, "We will further strengthen international efforts to end COVID-19 and fulfill our responsibilities and roles."

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] President Yoon Suk-yeol announced on the 12th at his first multilateral diplomatic stage that "we will contribute an additional $300 million in funding to the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A) initiative."

President Yoon attended the '2nd Global COVID-19 Summit' via video conference and stated, "We will continue to strengthen our support for the international community's efforts to end COVID-19 and fulfill our responsibilities and roles."

ACT-A, supported by our government, is an initiative jointly launched on April 24, 2020, by the World Health Organization (WHO), the Gates Foundation, the Wellcome Trust, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the Global Fund, and Unitaid to promote the development, production, and equitable access to basic health technologies for COVID-19, including vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics.

The government has contributed $110 million in cash or in-kind support to COVAX Advance Market Commitment (COVAX AMC), a vaccine pillar under ACT-A launched by Gavi to supply COVID-19 vaccines to developing countries, during 2020-2021, and an additional $100 million this year.

President Yoon emphasized, "Since the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 pandemic two years ago, various international efforts to overcome COVID-19 have been underway. Korea has participated in the international community's efforts to quickly end COVID-19 and establish a sustainable global health response system." He added, "We will support sufficient supply and safe, rapid vaccination for countries urgently in need of vaccines."

He continued, "We will actively support developing countries' efforts toward vaccine self-sufficiency by establishing the WHO Global Bio Workforce Training Hub," and added, "We will also participate actively in the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) to strengthen inter-country cooperation systems."

In particular, he stated, "The Republic of Korea supports the establishment of the Financial Intermediary Fund (FIF)," emphasizing, "Through this, the international community will be able to swiftly mobilize sufficient resources to effectively prepare for new health crises, including emerging infectious diseases."

President Yoon also said, "Health crises threatening all humanity, like COVID-19, cannot be resolved by the participation of a single country or a few countries alone," and urged, "If more countries unite and cooperate, we believe we can overcome various crises well."

Furthermore, he stated, "We will also fulfill our role as a responsible member of the international community, never forgetting that this is the path to human prosperity," and expressed hope that "good measures for COVID-19 response and strengthening health security systems will be derived through this 2nd Global COVID-19 Summit."

President Yoon, inaugurated on the 10th, chose the 2nd COVID-19 Summit as his first multilateral diplomatic stage, which is interpreted as emphasizing "solidarity based on the responsibilities and duties as global citizens."

Held for the second time since last September, this summit was organized to end the phase of the COVID-19 pandemic and discuss the international community's joint response to future health threats.

The United States, Germany, Belize, Indonesia, and Senegal co-hosted the meeting, with agendas including ▲ vaccine administration ▲ expanding access to diagnostics and therapeutics ▲ strengthening health security and measures to prevent future disasters.

This time, U.S. President Joe Biden also attended. Ahead of the first Korea-U.S. summit scheduled for the 21st, this marks the first meeting between the two leaders, even if only virtually.

In his inaugural speech, President Yoon mentioned global citizens seven times, emphasizing solidarity and philanthropy by stating, "I believe that by joining forces, we can solve domestic and international crises and challenges."

The presidential spokesperson’s office said, "We expect that President Yoon’s participation in this meeting will serve as an opportunity to express our policies and commitment to overcoming COVID-19 early and strengthening the global health security system as a pivotal global nation."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.