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

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 Kyungwha.

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”.