Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi highlighted Indonesia’s role in strengthening global health infrastructure through the Financial Intermediary Fund (FIF) Program agreed upon by G20 under Indonesia’s presidency.

Addressing the Foreign Policy and Global Health (FPGH) ministerial meeting in New York on Monday, Marsudi noted that until now, the FIF fund commitments reached US$1.4 billion directed towards preventing pandemic in the future.

“As G20 President, Indonesia has succeeded (in encouraging) the endorsement of the global funding program ‘Financial Intermediary Funding for Pandemic Prevention‘ as a concrete step to strengthen global health infrastructure resilience,” the minister noted at the meeting, according to the Foreign Ministry’s written statement released on Tuesday.

At the forum, Marsudi also highlighted Indonesia’s role in encouraging the formation of the Pandemic Treaty that will strengthen the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) role and struggle for the principles of equity for each country in terms of the global health architecture.

Indonesia has made three suggestions to face pandemics in future, she said.

The first approach is building national health infrastructure resilience, especially through the provision of funding support, while the second aspect is strengthening WHO’s role in managing global health issues.

The third suggestion is stressing the significance of consolidation with the Oslo Group to promote the discussion of the global health agenda, including to struggle for affordable health access for all.

Established in 2007, FPGH is the initiative of foreign ministers from seven countries: South Africa, Brazil, Indonesia, Norway, France, Senegal, and Thailand.

The FPGH chairmanship rotates annually to discuss specific themes on foreign policy and health that will later be proposed to be draft solutions of the UN General Assembly.

At the meeting, FPGH member countries stressed the importance of the forum’s role, particularly to ensure equal access for all countries to vaccines and strengthen state health resilience through the transfer of health technology, among others.

The FPGH meeting was held on the sidelines of the High-Level Week of the 77th UN General Assembly in New York.

Source: Antara News