Fernández will demand a global solidarity pact | AND…

True to the year of virtuality, President Alberto Fernández will participate today and tomorrow from Chapadmalal in the summit of G20 leaders which is being held in Saudi Arabia, a few thousand kilometers away. With the idea of ​​highlighting the principles of solidarity and international cooperation, Fernández will return to the charge with the proposal to create a common fund to fight the pandemic, with one leg on the issue of health and the other on the social and economic. But it will be difficult to reach agreements in a year that has not been characterized by comprehensive responses to the crisis posed by the appearance of the coronavirus. There was still some dissent over the signing of the outcome document, as the only head of state who had not confirmed his participation at the summit was that of the United States, Donald Trump, a stubborn opponent of multilateralism who finds himself in the midst of his departure with scandal and denunciations from the White House.

“Make the opportunities of the 21st century a reality for all” is the motto, always poetic, of the call. The President will deliver three short speeches over the two days: at the opening today and at the close tomorrow, in both cases around 11 a.m. Also, he will be speaking at one of the side events, but this message is already recorded. Last March, shortly after the start of the quarantine in the country, Fernández participated in an extraordinary G20 summit to specifically discuss the pandemic and has already raised the need to move towards a global solidarity pact and create a global humanitarian emergency fund. . In today’s and tomorrow’s messages, he will come back to the same ideas, which he refers to as “a new capitalism”.

<< This Global Solidarity Pact is structured around three axes, based on health, social protection for all and economic recovery, as central points for the promotion of cooperation and unity, in order to strengthen and to secure 21st century opportunities for all, ”Casa Rosada reported on the presidential exhibit. As for health, she will demand that tests, treatments and vaccines be classified as "global public good", so that they are accessible to all the inhabitants of the planet.

The Ambassador to the United States, Jorge Argüello, is the president’s “sherpa” at the top, that is, the one who represents him in previous negotiations. “That the necessary consensus be generated for the global economic recovery to be inclusive and sustainable,” he explained in a video uploaded to the networks on the purpose of Fernández’s message. Argüello was in Buenos Aires this week to accompany the visit of the IMF mission and will stay until the end of the G20 and then return immediately to Washington, where foreign policy is now defined. In the immediate future, in the negotiations with the Fund, as expressed by the Minister of Economy, Martín Guzmán, at the meeting of officials before the summit of leaders. A little further, the wait is for the inauguration of Joe Biden and the bond the country can generate with the new Democratic administration.

Until last night, Trump’s participation at the summit remained a mystery. Instead, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will be in Saudi Arabia after his controversial stint through Israel. That the summit is virtual is a great disappointment for the Saudi monarchy, a historic ally of the United States, which awaited the opportunity to improve its image in front of the world, haunted by multiple complaints of violations of human rights.

At the close, the dissent remained in the final document in the section on climate change. In these circumstances, a question of second order given the urgency of dealing with the consequences of the pandemic. It is estimated that governments have spent $ 11 trillion to deal with the impact of the health crisis and that global GDP will fall by almost 5% in 2020. Clearly, expectations regarding the success of current vaccines and the possibility of a certain exit from the current situation will be what will prevail in the participations. The Secretary General of the United Nations, the Portuguese Antonio Guterres, appealed for the solidarity of the richest countries. “We need to recover in an inclusive manner,” he asked in his post before the summit.