Shawdesh Desk:

Describing Covid-19 vaccine as global good, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday said Bangladesh believes in primacy of United Nations and other international institutions to meet everyone’s demand for vaccines and medical requirements on the basis of equity and justice.

“Bangladesh believes in the primacy of the global institutions. All nations need to work together to make the UN and other international organisations effective so that everyone’s requirement of vaccines and medical requirement are met,” she said.

In a recorded speech aired in the plenary of a conference of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA), she also said that the WHO, GAVI and other relevant organisations must uphold the rights of Member States and ensure equity and justice.

In this connection, she said, “We strongly believe that COVID-19 vaccines should be declared as global public goods. Countries producing the vaccines should help others produce the vaccines with a view to attaining universal vaccine coverage.”

The theme of the four-day annual BFA conference is “A World in Change: Join Hands to Strengthen Global Governance and Advance Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) Cooperation.”

The conference started in Boao, a coastal resort in South China’s Hainan Province on Sunday and continues till Wednesday this week.

At these critical times, Sheikh Hasina said that the financial and technical supports to developing countries have also become more important.

She added that developing countries need more access to the funds of the International Financial Institutions and the Multinational Development Banks.