Ensuring none is left behind in pandemic fight
If the world wants to beat back COVID-19 and ensure no one is left behind in the recovery, two issues thrown into sharp relief by the pandemic need attention: digitalization and regional cooperation.
Ensuring the digital transformation reaches all in the Asia-Pacific region is one of the greatest challenges we face.
Even before COVID-19, the digital revolution was transforming how people and businesses work. As the pandemic unfolded, the accelerated adoption of digital technologies helped governments, the education sector, private enterprises and the people to keep activities going amid social distancing, lockdowns and other containment measures. High-speed internet connectivity and financial technology hold immense promise for deepening financial inclusion, and keeping local economies alive, even in times of crisis.
Yet many poor households, women and other vulnerable groups have been unable to afford or access the benefits of digitalization.
Digital divides within and among countries in the region threaten to exacerbate existing gaps in economic and social development. We need more equitable access to digital technologies to drive innovation and create new business models.
Hence, regional cooperation must refocus on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Regional cooperation plays a critical role in managing the transition out of the current crisis, and a renewed focus on environmental and social dimensions of cooperation is essential. Working together can also help countries achieve digital transformation for all, including through joint efforts to develop and expand digital infrastructure, and legal and regulatory reforms that make these services more accessible.
The pandemic has exposed the inadequacy of the Asia-Pacific region’s health, education and social protection systems, making life even more difficult for the poorest and socially excluded, and deepening inequalities within communities and among countries, particularly for women.
The crisis has shown the value of building universal social protection systems for all members of society — from infancy to old age — which can be bolstered to provide additional relief in times of crisis. There have also been huge disparities in the ability of countries to insulate themselves from the pandemic and roll out vaccines. This is widening the development gaps. Hence, a renewed focus on people, their wellbeing and capabilities is needed through regional cooperation.
In recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, environmental sustainability needs to become much more central to economic, social and global value chain integration efforts. By developing lowcarbon economies, including through a new focus on the industry and tourism sectors to generate green jobs, we can help create a more resilient region.
While governments recognize the potential to pursue more environmentally sustainable development as part of the recovery, much more needs to be done if we are to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change and protect our planet’s natural capital and biodiversity.
These issues, highlighted in a recent joint report by our three organizations, warrant greater emphasis as countries meet this week to review the implementation of the SDGs at the United Nations High-level Political Forum. Policymakers have necessarily focused on containing the pandemic and meeting peoples’ immediate needs.
Tangible action on the multiple interconnected dimensions of the SDGs poses difficult policy and fiscal choices. Regional collaboration in financing can help countries raise and expand resources to meet the SDGs. Key priorities include cooperation on tax, through common standards, and efforts to address tax havens and avoidance. In addition, countries in the region can work together to design incentives to align private investment with the SDGs and expand the use of sustainability-focused instruments that tap regional and global capital markets.
Another form of international cooperation is worth noting. Governments, multilateral organizations, development banks, philanthropic organizations and the private sector have joined forces in unprecedented efforts to fight the pandemic, such as through the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) initiative. Science, technology and innovation enabled by such partnerships will continue to drive countries’ efforts to recover and build resilience.
Today, what begins as highly local can soon become a global phenomenon. A reinvigorated multilateralism can and must respond faster to take on new challenges and expand the provision of public goods. Together, our organizations will seek to nurture such cooperation to achieve the SDGs.
Today, what begins as highly local can soon become a global phenomenon. A reinvigorated multilateralism can and must respond faster to take on new challenges and expand the provision of public goods.
Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana is executive secretary, Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific; Kanni Wignaraja is assistant secretary-general, United Nations Development Programme; and Bambang Susantono is vice-president, Asian Development Bank.
The views don’t necessarily reflect those of China Daily.