United Nations calls on Arab world for more solidarity with “Corona”

Today (Thursday), the United Nations called on Arab countries for more mutual support in the face of the deep and lasting consequences of the emergence of the “Corona” virus pandemic, by providing mutual assistance, by proposing the creation of “regional solidarity funds”.

A United Nations document detailing the impact of “Covid-19” on the region said that “the Arab region, which includes 436 million people, initially kept infection and death rates below the global average , but recent trends are worrying “.

The document included United Nations recommendations to overcome the crises associated with the Corona virus outbreak.

And the United Nations has suggested that the consequences of the epidemic will be deep and long-lasting, expecting the region’s economy to contract by at least 5.7 percent.

The Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), Rola Dashti, said that “solidarity is an essential element in limiting the impact of Covid”, and she clarified that this solidarity must also be expressed within the countries themselves. between Arab countries.

The document declared that “it is essential to provide economic and social support to individuals and families, in addition to creating regional solidarity funds”. She added that Arab countries should “reduce inequalities by investing in health, inclusive education, social protection and technology.”

“The region is home to the world’s largest disparity between men and women in terms of human development,” United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement accompanying the publication of the document.

Dashti said poverty could worsen in the Arab world, explaining: “One in four Arabs may end up living in poverty.” She noted that the Covid-19 pandemic threatens 55 million people in need of life-saving assistance, of which 26 million are refugees and forcibly displaced people, and 16 million of them are food insecure. She said countries in the region have taken positive steps to tackle the epidemic, including supporting informal trade in Egypt and expanding banking sectors in some countries, paying dues.

In his statement, Guterres called on Arab countries to reinvent “the region’s economic model in the interest of more diverse green economies.”