The Doha Forum, in partnership with the Stimson Center, released Coping with New and Old Crises: Global and Regional Cooperation in an Age of Epidemic Uncertainty, the 2020 Doha Forum Report.
Press may attend a report launch on Wednesday, December 2nd, 9:00-10:30 A.M. Eastern Standard, 5:00-6:30 P.M., Arabian Standard. The event will feature Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, Co-Chair of the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board and former Director-General of the World Health Organization.
H.E. Lolwah Al-Khater, Assistant Foreign Minister and Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Qatar and Executive-Director of the Doha Forum, said: “At the regional level, the Gulf countries were able to quickly identify COVID-19 infections and limit the spread of the virus. But a more coordinated, multilateral regional and global response is now needed to address the pandemic’s devastating medium-term socioeconomic knock-on effect, including massive unemployment worldwide.”
The Doha Forum Report 2020 represents a contribution to the UN General Assembly’s Heads of State and Government Special Session in Response to COVID-19 (December 3-4, 2020), examining the leadership deficit in multilateral cooperation regarding the coronavirus pandemic. It also addresses other existing and emerging global challenges, including climate change, political violence, cyber-attacks, and growing inequality within and between countries.Successfully meeting these challenges requires not only an effective roadmap for modernizing our global governance system but one that charts a durable and broad-based recovery.
“The undermining of global institutions, policies, and norms in recent years has eroded the multilateral system’s ability to design and implement a durable post-vaccine recovery plan. To recover stronger than we were before, we must reach the majority of the world’s population, including its most vulnerable.” said Brian Finlay, President of the Stimson Center:
With the imminent arrival of one or more effective vaccines, the Doha Forum Report 2020 recommends a three-year (2021–23) global green recovery effort with four critical dimensions of global-national-local interaction: i) public health, human rights, and social protection; ii) economies that are robust, efficient, fair, and opportunity-building, both for entrepreneurs and for youth; iii) economic recovery that doubles as effective climate action; and iv) greater and more inclusive digital connectivity worldwide. It further highlights the pivotal recovery role of public-private partnerships by promoting decent job and wealth creation opportunities, expanding digital connectivity, and leveraging “networked governance.”
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