Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday called for an end to unilateral coercive measures, such as economic, financial and trade sanctions imposed by one country against another, Trend reports citing Xinhua.
In an address, via videoconference from Caracas, to a high-level United Nations event on financing for development in the era of COVID-19 and beyond, Maduro said that embargoes only "aggravate the conditions of poverty and further violate the right to development."
To counter such punitive actions, "we should immediately debate in the United Nations a financing formula for countries affected by unilateral coercive measures," he said.
Maduro also reiterated a proposal to create a "revolving fund for public purchases within the United Nations system to guarantee accessibility to healthcare products and food."
To effectively overcome the economic impacts of the novel coronavirus pandemic, "a global and joint response by the international community is necessary," said Maduro.