Environmental issues, the COVID-19 Pandemic and economic recovery dominated this week the virtual meeting between the President of Costa Rica, Carlos Alvarado, and the Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations, Amina Mohammed.
In reviewing the meeting, the Presidential Office indicated that Mohammed congratulated Costa Rica for the leadership shown among emerging economies during the last year, in which the planet has lived with the health emergency caused by COVID-19.
Alvarado thanked both Mohammed’s words and the support received during these complex months for the entire world. ‘We greatly appreciate the support of the General Secretariat and yours, Amina. This is the first bilateral (meeting) that we have, having met several times and noticingour similarities,” he said.
Joint recovery
It is necessary to put on the table the issue that the developing world will not be able to grow if there is no support from the rich nations, said the Costa Rican President.He added that rich countries will not be able to recover without the recovery of developing economies.
Therefore, he said, we have to continue promoting initiatives such as the Fund to Alleviate the COVID-19 Economy (FACE), which is an instance of international solidarity in the face of the economic recession caused by the Pandemic and an instrument to promote sustainable recovery.
Universal vaccination
The source points out that Alvarado and Mohammed agreed that a vaccination must be ensured for the entire world, accessible as a global public good. “This needs a big push ahead, and the United Nations can give that push. The goal is to have rapid vaccination and for everyone “, stressed the Tico president.
After recalling that spending on weapons last year, of about 1.3 trillion dollars, is the highest since the Cold War, Alvarado assured that “the biggest challenge is to vaccinate people and recover, and we are not spending on this . It is the governments that are spending on weapons, they can invest it in things that give jobs and activate the economy.”
“We are on the same page, and think the same. We must finance more development. I see more opportunities from the present challenges, in each one of them there are several paths,” said the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations.
