Pompeo’s seven-nation meeting focuses on China, accountability

WASHINGTON/NEWDELHI: Accountability in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic and economic recovery amid the global crisis figured prominently during a video conference that was joined by external affairs minister S Jaishankar, US secretary of state Mike Pompeo and their counterparts from five other countries.

Besides Pompeo, Australian foreign minister Marise Payne and Japan’s foreign minister Toshimitsu Motegi spoke of the need for transparency and accountability during a review of the pandemic, according to official readouts of the video conference initiated by the US secretary of state on Monday.

The leaders, including Jaishankar, said the focus should currently remain on combating the pandemic, finding medical solutions such as vaccines and recovery from the economic impacts of the Covid-19 crisis.

Though the official readouts on the video conference didn’t name China, people familiar with developments said the references to transparency were linked to Beijing’s initial handling of the Covid-19 pandemic as well as the response of bodies such as World Health Organization (WHO).

The hour-long video conference was also joined by Brazil’s foreign minister Ernesto Araujo, Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz and South Korea’s foreign minister Kang Kyung-wha.

“Secretary Pompeo and his counterparts discussed the importance of international cooperation, transparency, and accountability in combating the Covid-19 pandemic,” state department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said.

“They also discussed collaboration towards preventing future global health crises, reaffirming the importance of the rules-based international order,” she said.

In his tweets, Jaishankar said the “broad-based virtual meeting on responding to the #CoronaVirus challenge” resulted in productive discussions that covered the response to the pandemic, global health management, medical cooperation, economic recovery and travel norms.

Australia’s foreign ministry tweeted that “transparency & learning the lessons of this pandemic are critical to prevent future global health crises”.

According to a readout from Japan’s foreign ministry, Motegi stressed the importance of a review of the global response to the situation and the “need for each country to share information and insights in a free, transparent, and timely manner”.