BALI: G20 health and finance ministers launched a $1.4-billion fund Sunday to tackle the next global pandemic ahead of the bloc's leaders gathering for a summit on the Indonesian resort island of Bali but the host's president said it was not enough.

The 24-nation fund is viewed as one of the early global outcomes of the summit next week where little progress is expected on the Ukraine crisis with Russian President Vladimir Putin not in attendance. It was launched at a news conference Sunday opened by Indonesian President Joko Widodo and addressed by World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and World Bank President David Malpass.

"The G20 agrees to build a pandemic fund to prevent and prepare for a pandemic. Donors from G20 and non-G20 members, as well as philanthropic organisations, have contributed to the funds. But it is not enough," Widodo said in a video address. He said $31 billion was required to tackle the next global pandemic. "We must ensure community resilience in the face of a pandemic. A pandemic can no longer take lives and destroy the joints of the global economy.”

Published in The Daily National Courier, November, 14 2022

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