US lauds Bangladesh among others participating in Covid Global Action Plan
The United States has offered its appreciation to those countries and partners including Bangladesh who participated in the Covid-19 Global Action Plan throughout the past year.
Argentina, Australia, Belize, Botswana, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Maldives, Morocco, Namibia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Africa, Spain, Thailand, the African Union (Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), the European Union, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and the World Health Organization (WHO) are among the countries and partners.
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen participated in the virtual Covid-19 Global Action Plan (GAP) Foreign Ministerial Meeting convened by US Secretary of State Antony J Blinken on Wednesday.
One year ago, a diverse group of governments and organizations gathered to launch the Covid-19 Pandemic Prioritized Global Action Plan for Enhanced Engagement ("GAP") with the objective of focusing political will and enhancing coordination to end the acute phase of the Covid-19 pandemic and strengthen readiness for future pandemic threats, according to Chair's statement at the Covid-19 Global Action Plan Ministerial.
The GAP built on global Covid-19 response activities and commitments with a focus on six immediate Lines of Effort (LOEs): (1) Turning Vaccines into Vaccinations; (2) Bolstering Supply Chain Resilience; (3) Addressing Information Gaps; (4) Supporting Health Care Workers; (5) Promoting Acute Non-Vaccine Interventions; and (6) Strengthening the Global Health Security Architecture by advancing immediate and long-term reforms and governance that will impact both pandemic response today and future global health security.
On Wednesday, the GAP partners re-convened to assess the work of the GAP, identify remaining barriers to managing Covid-19, and reflect upon lessons learned to promote future collaboration to address global health security threats.
GAP Ministers and partners hailed the complementary domestic, bilateral, and multilateral efforts to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, and welcomed in particular the actions that have accelerated medical countermeasure access and distribution through increased response coordination across GAP countries.
They also acknowledged the challenges that remain and reaffirmed their shared enduring commitment to working together to address these challenges.
US Secretary of State Blinken noted that by enhancing coordination among partners – and elevating the level of political commitment and strategic communication – the GAP provided a forum to advance global health security efforts, to help save lives and livelihoods, and to operationalize the axiom that "health security is national security."