President of the Republic Nicos Anastasiades has said that the gap in health and economic recovery can only be closed by capturing lessons learned and embracing the opportunities that have arisen. He also called for the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals to transform the world for the better.
President Anastasiades was speaking during a video message that was presented at the Paris Peace Forum.
Addressing the chapter “Mind the gaps: Closing the action gap on health and economic recovery”, President Anastasiades said “a year and a half since its onset, the Covid-19 reality has brought some major changes to our way of life.”
“But as we are trying to return to normality, health and economic recovery remain central for a forward-looking agenda”, the President remarked, noting that “without effectively protecting public health, and a broad-based economic expansion around the world, it would be difficult to address other challenges, including in the fields of employment, education, healthcare, gender equality and so on”.
President Anastasiades underlined that “this gap can be closed only by capturing lessons learnt and embracing the opportunities which have also arisen.”
The initiatives that could be set in place include to “provide more support to COVAX, to make its efforts for global equitable access to vaccines an even greater success.” Failure to do so, he added, might translate to a pandemic with no definite end-horizon.
President Anastasiades further said that “we must also aim to put into practice robust socio-economic recovery plans, at home and internationally, in the framework of which to achieve business-friendly, green and digital economies, in which no one is left behind.”
Noting that the pandemic has showcased the common destiny of humanity on our planet, President Anastasiades said “we must act upon this premise and strive to implement the UN Sustainable Development Goals to transform our world for the better. President Macron couldn’t have put it better when he said that “there is no Plan-et B.”
Source: Cyprus News Agency