JAKARTA- The United States and Indonesia on Tuesday called for the launch of a forum to prepare for future pandemics, urging members of the Group of 20 leading economies to seize an opportunity this month to plan for an international response system.
In a joint statement, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Indonesian Finance Minister Sri MulyaniIndrawati 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.”
