On May 5, 2020, around 40 countries took part on an online summit called Global Response International Pledging Conference.
Highlights
- The Conference was initiated by European Union. US and Russia did not take part in the conference.
- China where the virus originated was represented by its ambassador.
- The main aim of the conference was to raise funds for research of COVID-19, especially vaccine development.
Funds
- The European Union pledged to donate 1 billion USD.
- France made its contribution of 500 million USD. Saudi Arabia and Germany each pledged to raise 500 million USD. Japan had pledged more than 800 million USD.
- Of the funds raised, 4.4 billion USD is to go for vaccine development, 2.2 billion USD is to be allocated to search for treatment and 1.6 billion USD is to be allocated to produce tests for COVID-19.
Hosts of the Conference
- The Conference was initiated by the European Union.
- Along with the European Union, the other countries that co-hosted the conference includes Canada, UK, France, Italy, Germany, Norway, Japan and Saudi Arabia.
World Health Organization
- The countries gave their support to WHO in its functioning.
- The support comes against the criticisms made by US that WHO is China-centric.
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