BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb. 28
Trend:
On our initiative, a special session of the UN General Assembly dedicated to COVID-19 was held. More than 150 countries supported the initiative, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said giving a press conference for local and foreign media representatives, Trend reports.
“This session took place in December last year. One of the theses that I voiced was the fair distribution of vaccines among countries of the world, so that there would be no protectionism or nationalism in this matter. Unfortunately, we see something completely different. We see that serious problems arise even between allies. They are beginning to count who used how many vaccines and who gave what to whom. Therefore, this situation once again suggests that, despite all the statements about solidarity, about the joint struggle against this scourge, we are seeing the exact opposite. Some countries, for example, have purchased three to four times more vaccines than they need. For example, Canada. I have already talked about it. It means that someone will not have enough. And they don't even need them. But what do they care? They speak out for equality, for human rights, for democracy, but in practice they infringe on the rights of millions of people, those living in poor countries and unable to afford it. Even if they could afford it, they would simply have no access to it. I will tell you quite frankly. If we had not concluded an agreement with all the manufacturers as we did, we would also be without vaccines today. We should have received the AstraZeneca vaccine long ago. We have not received it. We haven't received it for several months. Sputnik has not been received. Pfizer and Moderna should have been provided through COVAX, but they haven’t been. And we are not being told when we will get them. It is good that our Chinese partners are fulfilling their obligations. We have the means to buy it. But what about those who don’t have the money? Are these people supposed to die? This means that the rich will vaccinate themselves, take production for themselves, as they say, ignore the basic norms of human behavior, while poor countries must suffer. What kind of equality are we talking about then? This is the question I raised at the special session of the UN General Assembly, and we are actively discussing this issue within the framework of the Non-Aligned Movement today. My initiative has been supported by many countries. Additional consultations are underway now, and we must get down to business. Enough of voicing stereotyped statements that have no foundation at all. Everyone is already tired of this. This is a question that concerns every person. In this matter, we are showing integrity both in our national capacity and as a country that currently chairs the second largest international structure in the world after the UN,” the head of state said.