“More than a year and a half after the start of the pandemic, we can think about the future with greater optimism. The vaccination campaign has restored our confidence in our ability to conquer a new normal. After months of solitude, our social life has finally started again. "But, he warned," it is not over and even when it is, we will have to deal with its consequences for a long time.
Mario Draghi said this when speaking with a video message lasting about 20 minutes to the UN General Assembly, in front of a hundred world leaders.
Draghi called the "disparities" in the spread of vaccines "morally unacceptable", "with more than 65% of the population in high-income countries receiving at least one dose, compared to 2% in the poorest countries".
"Fewer vaccinations equate to more deaths," he recalled, adding that "huge differences in vaccination campaigns risk worsening socio-economic inequalities" between nations.
AFGHANISTAN - It is not the only issue touched by the Prime Minister, who has long dwelt on the Afghan crisis. "Humanitarian aid, security and human rights": these are the priorities of the extraordinary G20 on Afghanistan that Mario Draghi illustrated.
"The extraordinary G20 summit will have to give maximum support to these objectives", said the premier, in a speech in which he re-launched the need for multilateralism to address global challenges, from pandemics to climate change, from economic recovery to the fight against inequalities. and food insecurity, up to the resolution of conflicts and the fight against terrorism.
Draghi launched the extraordinary G20 evoking the risk of terrorism and a "social and civil catastrophe". "The humanitarian situation in Afghanistan is the most immediate and shared concern, also due to the approach of winter", he explained. "But we must also prevent the country from becoming a threat to international security", he warned, referring to the presence of groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda and Daesh and inviting the international community "to collaborate effectively, starting with the exchange of information".
Flogged the new Taliban government, which "does not respond to the expectations of the international community of an inclusive government representative of the different ethnic, social and religious components of the country. The new rulers - he said - must demonstrate with their choices, and not only in words, to believe in respect for individual freedoms ".
The premier tried to relaunch multilateralism, "progressively weakened for some time", but "the last few months have presented us with problems that we cannot solve alone".
Finally, the alarm on the climate: "We must act now to protect the planet, our economy and future generations, it is our duty to listen to young people, they will inherit the planet".
(Unioneonline / L)