The Indonesian G20 presidency has pushed for the FIF mechanism for health management under the management of the World Bank, where WHO will also play an important role in this mechanismJakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesian Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani lauded China's support in establishing a mechanism of the Financial Intermediary Fund (FIF).
Sri Mulyani delivered the statement during a virtual bilateral meeting with Chinese Finance Minister Liu Kun, Tuesday.
The G20 priority agenda discussed with Minister of Finance Liu included global challenges facing the world, such as inflation, the food crisis, and the energy crisis, as a result of the pandemic.
"The Indonesian G20 presidency has pushed for the FIF mechanism for health management under the management of the World Bank, where WHO will also play an important role in this mechanism," Sri Mulyani said in a statement on Wednesday.
Hence, the minister expressed hope that at the subsequent meeting of the heads of state at the G20 Indonesia, Chinese President Xi Jinping would declare official support of China for the formation of the FIF, so that the world can be better prepared to face pandemic situations in future.
Indonesia has donated US$50 million to demonstrate Indonesia's leadership and seriousness in handling the pandemic better.
The minister also praised China's full support for Indonesia's G20 Presidency and invited both parties to continue their commitment to supporting the G20 priority agenda.
As a result, the world economy can recover better together, Sri Mulyani stated.
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Meanwhile, Minister of Finance Liu noted that in order to maintain human health and life and to support Indonesia's G20 Presidency, China had stated to support the establishment of the FIF for Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response (PPR) at the World Bank.
"Reviewing the pandemic situation and the need to implement the current global development initiatives, China will actively consider to contribute to the FIF and learn more about it," Liu Kun remarked.
Mulyani and Liu Kun also agreed that food security was an important issue to discuss owing to its significant impact on the world.
In addition, they agreed that the two countries had a great opportunity to cooperate in the fields of investment and trade, especially in strategic sectors, such as infrastructure.
Indonesia and China have clocked several achievements over the past two years and look forward to strengthening bilateral relations in the fields of investment and trade.
Indonesia has sought support from G20 member countries to establish a permanent global funding agency to deal with future pandemics, Indonesian spokesperson at the G20, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, earlier stated.
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"Indonesia is pushing for a global agreement to build health resilience through the establishment of a Financial Intermediary Fund (FIF) as an effort to mobilize funding sources and other needs through a more permanent mechanism," Tarmizi stated at the online pre-event media gathering for the First Health Ministerial Meeting here on Friday.
Tarmizi recalled the situation in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic when many countries were not ready to control the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in terms of funding for capacity building for medical devices, medicines, vaccines, and human resource needs.
"In Indonesia, it was very difficult to find personal protective equipment (PPEs) and masks. On the availability of RT-PCR test kits, PCR reagents, rapid antibodies, antigens, at the beginning, only developed countries had access to it, while other countries had limited access to these tools," she noted.
In addition to limitations on the availability of medical devices, Tarmizi said, there was also inequality in access to vaccines between rich and poor countries.
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Translator: Agatha O, Azis Kurmala
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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