Cooperation as centerpiece for 2021
Wit h Covid-19 cases reaching almost 78 million worldwide and more than 1.7 million coronavirus-related deaths, it has become even more urgent to come up with clear strategies for recovery this coming 2021.
Even with the vaccines presenting a very promising solution to our problems, there is undoubtedly more work to be done as far as recovery is concerned. It’s a time to rebuild and climb back up after a really nasty fall.
According to the Global Economic Prospect report that the World Bank issued in June, Covid-19 sent the world into the deepest recession it has seen in decades. Trade and investment declined and financial markets suffered.
Because of the pandemic, there has been an urgent need for policy action to soften the effects, protect the vulnerable communities, and strengthen the countries’ economies to face the challenges. Apparently, the problems are not over as we face a new strain of the virus and as a new series of lockdowns sweeps across several countries.
In 2020, some economies chose to work together, and yet others decided that either isolation or turning a blind eye on the problem was a better strategy. The US, for example, left the World Health Organization and the Open Skies Treaty and established sanctions against other countries. Those who ignored science and refused to work with the medical experts suffered greater consequences arising out of weak disease control and prevention strategies.
But the good news is that there are more countries working together, and for them, cooperation is the way to go. To be united against one common enemy strengthens the efforts and opens more opportunities to everyone involved.
Friendship and unity are reliable weapons in the face of any adversity, not just the pandemic. It is better to face climate change, racism, poverty, etc. together rather than divided. It is even translatable on a smaller scale: unity within family, community, and country works better than isolation.
UN Secretary- General Antonio Guterres said, “The Covid-19 pandemic provides overwhelming evidence that we need more—and more effective—multilateralism, with vision, ambition and impact...we need more international cooperation and stronger international institutions.”
He then announced a $2-billion Humanitarian Response Plan to help the “ultra-vulnerable.” The Asean, the African Union and the EU also met and agreed to band together to fight the pandemic. G-20 members vowed to “rise to the challenge together” by making united efforts to stabilize the global economy. The world’s biggest trade pact, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, was signed in November by 15 Asia-pacific countries, including Asean’s 10 member-states and China. This is meant to “enhance regional and global economic stability, and facilitate regional economic integration, multilateralism and free trade.”