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That’s in addition to the large group at the Munich Security Conference last week.
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#Congress #Washington #lawmakers #traveling #global #hot #spots #including #India #Taiwan #Mexico
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
Tag: global

With Congress out of Washington, lawmakers are traveling to global hot spots, including India, Taiwan and Mexico.

Global Village to donate 15% ticket proceeds to quake-hit Syria, Turkey
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Dubai’s Global Village A huge, multi-cultural theme park, Global Village in Dubai has announced that 15 percent of entry tickets sold on Sunday, February 19, will be donated to earthquake victims in Turkey and Syria, local media reported.
15 per cent of its proceeds will be donated to the “Bridges of Good” campaign organized by the Emirates Red Crescent Authority, to support those affected by the earthquakes in Syria and Turkey.
The donation will be applied to all tickets purchased at Global Village gates or online including Virgin Radio’s 15th Birthday Concert.
It is noteworthy that the devastating two earthquakes that struck southern Turkey and northern Syria on February 6, with a magnitude of 7.7 and 7.6 has claimed more than 45,000 lives so far, and displaced millions in Syria and Turkey, and hundreds of children have also been orphaned in the country.
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#Global #Village #donate #ticket #proceeds #quakehit #Syria #Turkey( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

Revival of Chinese economy complicated due to growing global competition: Xi
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Beijing: Efforts to revive China’s economy have become “complicated” with growing global competition to attract investment, President Xi Jinping has said, calling for steps to forestall and defuse major economic and financial risks, including those arising from the property sector and the piling local government debt.
In an article published in the official media on the subject “State of the Country’s Economy”, Xi said that more efforts should be made to attract and utilise foreign investment.
In a tacit admission of the disquieting state of the world’s second-largest economy which last year shrank to three per cent registering its second lowest growth rate in 50 years, Xi said that economic work in 2023 is complicated and the efforts to revive it should focus on the major problems and start with improving public expectations and boosting confidence in development.
In the article that is originally in the Chinese language and published in an official magazine, Xi, also the general secretary of the ruling Communist Party of China, noted that international competition for attracting investment is becoming more intense.
China, regarded as the factory of the world for decades, faced an increasing shift of international investments to several countries, including India, in the last few years due to three years of zero Covid policy as well as the government crackdown on big tech industries.
Last year the annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of China totalled USD 17.94 trillion in 2022, falling below the 5.5 per cent official target.
The slow pace was blamed mainly on the strictly implemented zero-Covid policy leading to periodic lockdowns and the ruling Communist Party’s crackdown on big industrial firms besides the lingering real estate crisis.
This is the slowest growth of the Chinese economy since the 2.3 per cent registered in GDP in 1974.
Last year, China’s GDP in terms of dollars declined from USD 18 trillion in 2021 to USD 17.94 trillion last year mainly due to a sharp rise of the dollar against RMB (the Chinese currency) in 2022.
Public unrest due to economic slowdown is resulting in rare protests in the Communist country. Besides protests against the zero Covid policy in December last year, China in the last few weeks witnessed unprecedented protests by thousands of pensioners over health insurance cuts highlighting risks from an ageing population.
Pensioners in the central Chinese city of Wuhan city have taken to the streets twice over the past week to protest against cuts to medical services.
The rare protests underscore the challenge facing Beijing as it comes to terms with an ageing population, a shrinking workforce and the long-term financial health of its social security system, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported.
China is ageing rapidly, with the number of people aged 60 years and above reaching 267 million by the end of last year accounting for 18.9 per cent of the population, Wang Haidong, director of the National Health Commission’s Department of Aging and Health said.
It is estimated that the elderly population will top 300 million by 2025 and 400 million by 2035, he told official media here in September last year.
In his article, Xi noted that international competition for attracting investment is becoming more intense and urged more efforts to attract and utilise foreign capital.
Efforts should be made to expand market access, comprehensively improve the business environment, and provide targeted services to foreign-funded enterprises, he said.
He called for efforts to effectively forestall and defuse major economic and financial risks, including the systemic risks arising from the property sector, financial risks and local government debt risks.
According to 2019 estimates, China’s local governments’ debt rose to USD 2.58 trillion, which remained a constant worry for the central government. Xi said that there is still a lot of important work to be done in 2023 citing tasks such as advancing rural revitalisation on all fronts and planning a new round of reform across the board.
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#Revival #Chinese #economy #complicated #due #growing #global #competition( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

Operations at BBC offices ‘affront to freedom of expression’”: Global watchdogs
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New York: Global media watchdogs and human rights bodies on Tuesday criticised the Indian government’s income tax survey operations at the BBC’s offices in New Delhi and Mumbai, saying the action “smacks of intimidation” and was a “blatant affront” to freedom of expression.
The Income Tax officials described the action as part of an investigation into alleged tax evasion.
Reacting to the Indian IT department’s action, the UK-based British public broadcaster said that it was “fully cooperating” with the authorities and hoped that the situation will be resolved “as soon as possible”.
The New York-based independent non-profit Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) urged the Indian government to stop harassing journalists.
Its Asia programme coordinator Beh Lih Yi said: “Raiding the BBC’s India offices in the wake of a documentary criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi smacks of intimidation”.
“Indian authorities have used tax investigations as a pretext to target critical news outlets before, and must cease harassing BBC employees immediately, in line with the values of freedom that should be espoused in the world’s largest democracy,” CPJ said in a statement.
“The searches by the tax authorities of the offices of @BBCWorld in #Inde , 3 weeks after the censorship of his documentary on @narendramodi, constitute an outrageous reprisal. RSF denounces these attempts to silence any criticism of the Indian government,” Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) tweeted.
Amnesty International tweeted: “These raids are a blatant affront to freedom of expression.”
“The Indian authorities are clearly trying to harass and intimidate the BBC over its critical coverage of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. The overbroad powers of the Income Tax Department are repeatedly being weaponised to silence dissent. Last year, tax officials also raided the offices of a number of NGOs, including Oxfam India. These intimidatory acts, which undermine the right to freedom of expression in India, must end now,” it said in a statement.
The South Asia Solidarity Group, a human rights organisation based in the UK, dubbed it a “blatantly vindictive move”.
“In the wake of the government’s ban on sharing extracts or screening the documentary, this raid makes it clear that the Modi government will attack all those who criticise Narendra Modi, the BJP and those close to them,” said Mukti Shah, spokesperson for the group.
In New Delhi, officials said the survey was being carried out to investigate issues related to international taxation and transfer pricing of BBC subsidiary companies, and alleged that the BBC had been served with notices in the past but was “defiant and non-compliant” and had significantly diverted its profits.
The IT action against the BBC comes weeks after the broadcaster aired a controversial two-part documentary -“India: The Modi Question”- on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and 2002 Gujarat riots.
The Indian government has branded the two-part series a “propaganda piece”, designed to push a particular “discredited narrative”.
“The bias, lack of objectivity and continuing colonial mindset is blatantly visible,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said at the time it was aired in the UK last month.
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#Operations #BBC #offices #affront #freedom #expression #Global #watchdogs( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

Hyderabad: International seminar on ‘Global Economic Situation’ begins
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(Photo: Twitter) Hyderabad: The Indian Air Force’s air commodore P Maheshwar along with Malla Reddy University vice-chancellor Dr V.S.K. Reddy inaugurated a two-day international seminar on the ‘global economic situation’ with reference to market trends in India.
Kicked off on Friday at Malla Reddy University, the seminar will conclude on February 11.
Air commodore Maheshwar who mainly focused on ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ as the source of utility for the people, spoke on the role of MSMEs in bringing up more technological start-ups.
He further guided students about how to be a part of the Indian Air Force and pulled light on new economic drivers that play a major role in the country’s development.
Vice-chancellor Dr Reddy highlighted the importance of the New Education Policy and the importance of getting up-skilled for career development.
He also spoke about how technology was becoming the base for global economic trends while mentioning that management students are the beacons of the upcoming marketing trends.
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#Hyderabad #International #seminar #Global #Economic #Situation #begins( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

Price and supply volatility: Addressing global energy security needs
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Bengaluru: Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the India Energy Week (IEW) 2023 on Monday. Participants from different countries gathered to discuss topical energy issues.
Rosneft Chief Executive Officer Igor Sechin also visited Indian Energy Week. Together with Prime Minister Modi, Sechin attended the ministerial session on Price and Supply Volatility and discussed energy cooperation between Russia and India.
According to the IMF’s recent estimates, India and its neighbours will account for half of global economic growth this year. In contrast, the contribution of the US and the Eurozone will amount to only 10 per cent. India’s “enlightened national interest” principles are highly respected.
Based on these principles, the government implements an independent, pressure-free economic policy in harmony with its partners. Cooperation opens up new horizons.
India, as the world’s most populous nation, has become a leader in global economic dynamics, demonstrating rapid improvements in the lives of its people. It is a big country with a young, ambitious population, where dynamics are of the utmost importance.
It is no coincidence that analysts and experts predict growth rates of up to 7 per cent per annum for India. In turn, Russia achieved a result more significant than many of the world’s leading economies in the face of unprecedented sanctions, pressure, and confrontation with almost the entire Western world. Despite the evolving situation around us, implementing major economic programmes has already proven to be a tremendous psychological victory. This will determine success in other spheres.
Thus, the actions of the world hegemon, in an attempt to preserve its hegemony by all means, destroyed the single energy market. To date, there is no single global energy market. Energy security is no longer a global concern. As a result of these actions, all the principles of market trading have been destroyed to date.
Market pricing, contract law and, in general, the possibilities of legal protection of market participants have been abolished. In addition, logistics chains built up for decades have been forcibly severed. The blown-up Nord Stream project serves as an illustrative example.
The reformatting of the European gas market is the most compelling example.
At first, contrary to common sense, Europe was first made to abandon long-term contracts and switch to spot pricing, which led to an unprecedented price increase before the well-known events in Ukraine in the midst of the forced green transition and under-investment in conventional energy. After eliminating Russian competition from the European market through sanctions and pressure, the Americans offered to return to long-term contracts that guarantee a return on investment. This is a banal case of unfair competition.
Consequently, Europe has lost its key competitive advantage — access to cheap and reliable Russian energy carriers — and is forced to pay three to five times higher prices for gas.
According to Bloomberg, the rejection of Russian gas has already cost Europe about 1 trillion euros.
As a result of a reasonable rejection of the accelerated energy transition, focusing on extracting conventional hydrocarbons, US oil majors have become leaders in capitalisation.
By the way, BP, the leader of the green agenda, demonstrated a different approach. They could not, like their competitors, take advantage of the current situation. Based on the results published in its annual reports, we could reasonably assume that BP may announce a return to the strategy of conventional production and a reduction in green investments that generate losses. The total amount of announced write-offs is $38 billion.
It is also observed in the audited annual reports that BP, Rosneft’s 20 per cent shareholder, has revised the value of Rosneft’s stake to $24 billion based on Rosneft’s performance results.
Rosneft assures the corporate world that it will work hard to keep the trust of its shareholders. At the same time, it should be noted that such an increase in the incomes of oil majors is not only due to favourable market conditions. A number of companies maximise profits and increase capitalization by directing funds to pay dividends and buy back shares.
Another beneficiary, taking advantage of the global energy crisis, is the Western military-industrial complex.
The answer to the destruction of the global market and the severance of logistics chains is the regionalisation of markets, and the development of new safe logistics. The regionalisation of markets means forming regional payment systems with their own regional settlement and reserve currencies.
Obviously, the main risks of volatility are unprecedented sanctions pressure, including the so-called ‘price cap’. Non-market interventions must be treated calmly. Experts know how to find a solution. The reference price for Russian oil cannot be decided where this oil does not exist. If there are no supplies to Europe, then the reference prices will be decided from where it arrives — FOB Nakhodka, Dubai, and so on.
As it is written in the Ecclesiastes: “If something is crooked, it can’t be made straight; if something isn’t there, it can’t be counted.”
The fundamental reason for the energy crisis is primarily underinvestment in the industry as consumption grows and the pace of resource replenishment is insufficient.
The annual OPEC report indicates the opinion of Secretary-General Haitham Al Ghais: that to meet the growing oil demand alone by 2045, investments to the tune of $12 trillion are needed. Consumption today is 100 million barrels per day and continues to grow. The four countries with the highest resource base, however, remain the same: Venezuela, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Russian companies, Rosneft in particular, are among the few that have not reduced their level of investment in development over the past decade. Today, Rosneft is implementing the world’s largest investment project to create a new oil and gas province in Eastern Siberia, Vostok Oil, with a resource base of 6.5 billion tons.
One of the drivers of Rosneft’s low carbon operations is Vostok Oil. The flagship project’s carbon footprint is only a quarter of the average global indicators of projects in the modern oil industry.
The Vostok Oil project is distinguished by its uniquely low sulphur content — 0.01-0.04 per cent. The indicator is comparable to the Euro-3 standard for diesel fuel. Vostok Oil actually produces green barrels with the help of advanced technologies. Rosneft is one of the leaders of the low-carbon agenda. The company was the first in the domestic energy sector to set a net zero target by 2050 for Scopes 1 and 2.
In India, such projects are implemented by Nayara. As part of the reinforcement of energy security, we are ready to increase supplies on a long-term basis and diversify supplies. Rosneft will support the activities of Nayara Energy shareholders to develop refining capacities, develop petrochemistry and expand the retail business.
Rosneft can and will work wherever there is growth potential and intent to protect our interests, despite external pressure.
Such countries constitute the largest and growing part of the world’s energy consumption. Rosneft noted the responsible, balanced position of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and our other OPEC+ partners, acting in the long-term interests of stabilising the energy market, despite enormous external pressure.
In fact, one just doesn’t have to step on any rake. All in good time. First, real new green technologies should be developed that can actually reduce carbon emissions. Such technologies simply do not exist right now.
It is necessary right now to reduce emissions in the traditional energy industry, using the technological potential that gives a real effect. Dynamic economic growth in India means large-scale energy consumption and demand growth.
This development of the global energy sector is in Russia’s interests. Therefore, it will do everything it can to support India’s plans. The speed of adapting our economies to new conditions will be of key importance.
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#Price #supply #volatility #Addressing #global #energy #security( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

Guterres calls on G20 to come up with relief package for Global South
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United Nations: Warning that poverty and hunger are rising around the world, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has asked the G20 nations led by India to come up with a package offering investments and debt relief to nations of the Global South to help achieve the UN’s development goals.
Unveiling his proposal for a ‘New Agenda for Peace’ during a briefing on his priorities for this year, Guterres told the General Assembly on Monday that by the time of the summit on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in September, “I urge the G20 to agree on the global SDG Stimulus that I proposed at last November’s G20 Summit to support the countries of the Global South”.
His New Agenda proposals covered a gamut of issues that included preventing a nuclear holocaust, reforms of the economic infrastructure, new technologies, social media and bigotry.
Guterres projected a gloomy picture of the world “staring down the barrel of a confluence of challenges unlike any other in our lifetimes” with wars, economic inequalities, Aclimate change and “epic geopolitical divisions”.
His most serious warning was about the threat of a nuclear war, pointing out that the “Doomsday Clock” of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists that purports to show the likelihood of a nuclear holocaust was at 90 seconds to midnight.
“We are at the highest risk in decades of a nuclear war that could start by accident or design” from “the 13,000 nuclear weapons held in arsenals around the world,” he said.
“Nuclear-armed countries must renounce the first use of these unconscionable weapons,” he said.
India has declared that it will not use nuclear weapons first, as has China, but others with atomic weapons have not adopted the policy.
Guterres also called attention to “the dangers posed by new technologies”.
He said that the New Agenda should include “international bans on cyberattacks on civilian infrastructure, and internationally agreed limits on lethal autonomous weapons systems”, a reference to robots and drones.
He suggested a new type of counterterrorist operations by regional force under Security Council mandates as he unveiled his proposal for a New Agenda for Peace with a warning that humanity is facing its “darkest hour”.
He said, “The New Agenda for Peace must recognize the need for a new generation of peace enforcement missions and counter-terrorist operations, led by regional forces, with a Security Council mandate under Chapter VII” of the UN Charter that provides for action on threats to peace.
The prospect for peace is diminishing in the Russian invasion of Ukraine while “the chances of further escalation and bloodshed keep growing”, he said
“I fear the world is not sleepwalking into a wider war. I fear it is doing so with its eyes wide open,” Guterres said.
In dealing with poverty and inequalities, he said “the global financial architecture does not need a simple evolution; it needs a radical transformation”.
“A new determination to ensure developing countries have a far greater voice in global financial institutions” and “a new commitment to place the dramatic needs of developing countries at the centre of every decision and mechanism of the global financial system, were needed”.
Focusing on the Abrahamic faiths, Guterres said, “antisemitism, anti-Muslim bigotry, the persecution of Christians, racism and white supremacist ideology are on the march” but left out the attacks on and threats faced by minorities belonging to religions like Hinduism, Sikhism and Bahaism.
More broadly, he said, “Ethnic and religious minorities, refugees, migrants, indigenous people and the LGBTQI-plus (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex and other) community are increasingly targeted for hate, online and off”.
He said that many in positions of power profit by sowing division and hatred and “weaponise cultural differences”.
“Social media platforms use algorithms that amplify toxic ideas and funnel extremist views into the mainstream” and “advertisers finance this business model while “some platforms tolerate hate speech – the first step towards hate crime”, Guterres said.
He said that all stakeholders should agree to a Code of Conduct for information integrity on digital platforms.
The UN chief said that “everyone with influence on the spread of mis- and disinformation on the internet – governments, regulators, policymakers, technology companies, the media, civil society -” should act.
(Arul Louis can be contacted at arul.l@ians.in and followed at @arulouis)
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#Guterres #calls #G20 #relief #package #Global #South( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

‘Climate change, global warming impacted tea plantation in Assam’
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Guwahati: Climate change and global warming have adversely affected tea plantations in Assam in the last few years, experts said, adding that without irrigation, tea plantations are finding it difficult to survive.
P. Soman, senior agronomist and plant physiology expert, said that climate change is one of the top five challenges of the tea industry in Assam.
Soman, as a key speaker at a workshop at Golaghat, explained in depth “how changes in agronomy help micro irrigation technology to enhance crop performance”.
Tea plantations are highly climate dependent, he pointed out.
Speaking in the workshop, technical expert Vinay Radhakrishnan highlighted the importance of hydro pneumatic pumps of advanced technology.
The Tea Academy of North East Tea Association’s (NETA) has organised the two-day workshop on “Importance of Technology driven irrigation and fertigation in Tea” at the NETA headquarters at Golaghat.
Piyush Gattani, CEO of MD’s Organic (Distributor of Jain Irrigation Systems Ltd), highlighted the cost economics of installing drip irrigation with fertigation and automation in tea.
Senior tea planter from West Bengal, Shiv Saria, shared his broad experience and benefits he gained by using micro-irrigation in tea plantations.
Jain Irrigation Systems, for the first time in India, installed drip irrigation with fertigation and automation at around 100 hectares of tea plantation successfully in Assam’s Karbi Anglong.
Jain Irrigation is also working hand in hand with the tea plantation to introduce the latest precision micro-irrigation technology or need-based irrigation system.
In this system, the decision to irrigate and fertigate an agricultural field is derived based on inputs received from satellite field data, soil moisture sensors and other applications, NETA Advisor Bidyananda Barkakoty said.
He said that the two-day workshop was an eye opener to new possibilities of sustainable agricultural development and a way to deal with challenges faced by the tea farmers of Assam.
Assam, which produces roughly 55 per cent of India’s tea, has more than 10 lakh tea workers in the organised sector, working in about 850 big estates.
Besides, there are lakhs of small tea gardens owned by individuals.
The tea belts of Assam’s Brahmaputra and Barak Valley are home to more than 60 lakh people.
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#Climate #change #global #warming #impacted #tea #plantation #Assam( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

Global smartphone revenue fall by 9% in 2022: Report
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New Delhi: The global smartphone revenue declined by 9 percent, amounting to $409 billion in 2022, the lowest since 2017, a new report has said.
According to Counterpoint Research, the global smartphone market declined by 18 percent (year-over-year) to reach 304 million units in Q4 2022.
“The smartphone market remained under pressure in the fourth quarter of 2022 as the cost-of-living crisis, shortage in the labor market, and a decline in consumers’ purchasing power resulted in double-digit declines in the shipments of each of the top five smartphone players,” said Senior Analyst Harmeet Singh Walia.
Moreover, Apple achieved an all-time high revenue share of 48 percent in 2022, and also captured the highest-ever operating profit share of 85 percent.
“Having proficiently managed its production problems, Apple was able to weather a year already marred by economic and geopolitical turmoil better than other major smartphone players,” said Research Director Jeff Fieldhack.
Chinese smartphone players suffered from domestic lockdowns for much of the year in addition to facing global economic and geopolitical difficulties, said the report.
As a result, the shipments of Xiaomi, OPPO, and Vivo fell by more than 20 percent each.
Despite offering premium phones at aggressive margins, Chinese brands have yet to break into the premium market and have been unable to fully capitalize on Huawei’s decline, the report added.
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#Global #smartphone #revenue #fall #Report( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

COVID-19 still a global health emergency, says WHO
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The verdict is in: The COVID-19 pandemic is still a global health emergency, the World Health Organization has concluded. But it might not be for much longer.
The decision from the WHO — exactly three years after COVID-19 was first declared a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) — comes after a meeting of the COVID-19 emergency committee on January 27. WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus concurred with the committee’s advice that there is a continued risk posed by COVID-19.
The news comes as countries increasingly deliberate how to move forward from the acute phase of the pandemic, with the U.S. looking at annual COVID-19 boosters, for example. However, the committee found that, globally, there are still a high number of deaths from COVID-19 compared to other infectious respiratory diseases; vaccine uptake is still insufficient in low- and middle-income countries and there is uncertainty about emerging variants.
But the reality is that the pandemic no longer poses the same threat as it did when it spread like wildfire through the globe in 2020. The committee acknowledged this, saying the crisis “may be approaching an inflection point.”
As for exactly how the world will transition away from a PHEIC and into endemicity is still up for debate, with the committee acknowledging that it is unlikely that the virus can be eliminated from human and animal reservoirs. The committee recommended that a proposal be developed for an alternative mechanism that would maintain international focus on COVID-19, even after the crisis is no longer classified as a PHEIC.
For now, Tedros has asked countries to continue work in several areas, including maintaining their focus on vaccination of high-priority groups, improving reporting of COVID-19 surveillance data and increasing uptake of COVID treatments and tests.
“Today’s announcement is a recognition that the global threat posed by COVID-19 is not over,” said Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. “While the world has made remarkable progress over the last two years, implementing the largest and fastest global vaccine rollout in history, we cannot afford to be complacent.”
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#COVID19 #global #health #emergency
( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )












