“We have strived to strengthen global solidarity and international cooperation in the fight against the coronavirus since the very beginning, and with this understanding, we have provided medical aid and support to 157 countries and 12 international organizations,” Erdoğan said.

Greeting those who were participating in the event, Erdoğan thanked UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, and Prime Minister Andrew Holness of Jamaica for this noteworthy initiative of theirs.

Stating that one year was left behind in the coronavirus pandemic, Erdoğan noted that the pandemic had laid bare that the entire humanity shared the same fate against global issues.

Erdoğan said: “We have strived to strengthen global solidarity and international cooperation in the fight against the coronavirus since the very beginning, and with this understanding, we have provided medical aid and support to 157 countries and 12 international organizations.”

“It is obvious that the pandemic will not end unless fair access to the vaccine is ensured”

“We have not left alone particularly our African brothers and sisters during these difficult days,” stated Erdoğan, adding that Turkey had made official development assistance of more than 2.5 billion dollars to the least developed countries between 2009 and 2019 alone.

Underscoring that the COVID-19 pandemic had once again revealed the great number of “crookedness in the global system”, which he voiced in every platform, Erdoğan continued as follows: “The global pandemic, which has caught even the richest countries in the world off guard, has caused grave destructions particularly in the least developed countries. The iniquity, which has become much clearer with the pandemic, has grown graver due to the vaccine issue. We see that nearly 100 countries across the world have yet to get vaccines. It is worrisome for the humanity and humanitarian values that billions of people have not had the access to even the first dose of the vaccine yet while there are countries that have inoculated their almost entire population. Besides, it is obvious that neither the pandemic will end nor the economic recovery will be achieved unless fair access to the vaccine is ensured.”

Erdoğan stressed that the countries which had enough number doses of vaccine to inoculate their own citizens should deliver the spare vaccines in their hands to countries in need. (ILKHA)