Ref. Ares(2020)6928349 - 19/11/2020
Ref. Ares(2021)5446076 - 03/09/2021
President Ursula Von der Leyen
European Commission
Rue de la Loi Brussels
17 November 2020,
Dear President Von der Leyen
G20 summit, 21-22 November 2020, suggested communiqué language
The triple health, economic and social crisis caused by COVID has deeply affected people across the
globe, and wil rightly feature high on the agenda of the forthcoming G20 summit. The G20 countries have
responded with an unprecedented set of measures, including economic stimulus packages that already
exceed $11 tril ion. These have been necessary steps to help mitigate the impact of COVID in G20
countries. Yet by contrast, only limited funds have been provided to the global response so far, despite
near universal acknowledgement by leaders that we wil not end this crisis until and unless we act
together.
Working together is the only way out as the virus doesn’t know any borders. The ACT-Accelerator is our
best bet to end the pandemic as quickly as possible. On current estimates, ACT-A has a $28bn funding
gap, $4.6bn of which is for urgent needs in coming months. The overal target of $38bn funding target
needs to be met by the end of 2021. The EU has shown great leadership on ACT-A including at the Paris
Peace Forum last week – we thank you for the additional EUR 100m pledged. However, in order to
mobilise the necessary financing for ACT-A, the EU should step up with an ambitious overall pledge of
EUR1.2 bil ion, and to announce a substantial part of it at the upcoming G20 summit. Not only is that the
right thing to do ethical y, but these sums are also the best investment you can make today to end this
crisis for every citizen in every country as quickly as possible. The smartest investments and decisions
you could now make are those that end the crisis globally and prevent, and adequately prepare for future
pandemics. We are therefore calling on you to adopt the following language in the upcoming G20
Communiqué:
1. Investing in the global and equitable response, including ACT-A, and in pandemic
preparedness and prevention efforts
The forthcoming G20 Summit should be used to raise funds towards the $4.6bn funds that are
urgently needed by ACT-A partners. We therefore suggest the following language, with the ‘Xbn’
reflecting the overall amount raised by G20 partners at the Summit in fresh funds to make a
significant contribution towards the $4.6bn funding gap for urgent needs.
“Without action at the international level to address long-term gaps in pandemic
preparedness and response, we wil not succeed in defeating COVID or preventing future
pandemics. We therefore commit to mobilize the equivalent of 1% of our stimulus
packages to the COVID response, the international impact of COVID and to pandemic
prevention and preparedness, with initial funds going to the Access to COVID-19 Tools
Accelerator (ACT-A). As a first step, we pledge an additional Xbn for ACT-A to address the
urgent financing gaps that need to be fil ed in 2020. We wil further ensure global equity is
at the heart of the ACT-A by prioritising multilateral action over bilateral action and
ensuring that distribution mechanisms and allocation frameworks are based on equitable
terms. Products should be both accessible to Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs)
as soon as they become available and suitable for LMIC settings. We also ask Multilateral
Development Banks (MDBs) to swiftly consider ways to strengthen the financial support
for the ACT-A, including by using the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Special drawing
rights (SDRs).”
2. Working on long-term solutions
to address pandemic preparedness and prevention at the
multilateral level, as recommended in the Pandemic Action Network’s policy briefing
“To safeguard the future, we agree to work towards setting up a long-term multilateral
platform for pandemic preparedness and response. Such a platform would act as a
universal, equitable, efficient, sustained funding and coordination platform to address
pandemic preparedness and prevention gaps, including increasing global and national
investments in pandemic preparedness and response; building country capacity to detect,
prevent, and respond to outbreaks; strengthening early outbreak detection, analytics, and
data systems; accelerating global health research and development for epidemic-risk
diseases; securing reliable access to personal protective equipment and other pandemic
supplies, as wel as improving leadership for metrics and accountability for health
security.
We are keen to discuss these recommendations with you and your teams at your earliest convenience.
Global Citizen is a global movement supported by 4 mil ion citizens worldwide and the Pandemic Action
Network has over 40 partners, and we each help convene weekly calls on ACT-A, pandemic
preparedness and the impact of COVID. We would welcome the opportunity to be able to feed in the
views of our teams and our broader networks into the discussions with you and your colleagues.
With the disease continuing to make unwelcome returns in countries around the world, we cannot delay in
doubling down on the solutions we know work, the equitable principles we know wil save our people and
our economies, and on preparing to prevent future pandemics before the next wave, or the next disease
hits.
We are at your service to meet and further our shared objectives in this regard at your earliest
convenience.
Yours,
Global Citizen
Pandemic Action Network
International Chamber of
Commerce
Electronically signed on 03/09/2021 17:45 (UTC+02) in accordance with article 11 of Commission Decision C(2020) 4482
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