Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia, told the UN members that the battle against Covid-19 should be taken by all nations around the world.
“At present, the Covid-19 has spread to every country and claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. In this regard, Cambodia believes that the battle against Covid-19 should not be taken by any country as its own geo-political agenda,” Samdech Techo Hun Sen said in his keynote address to the 31st Extraordinary Session of the United Nations General Assembly on “Responses to Covid-19 Pandemic”, held in New York on Dec. 3 (morning of Dec. 4 in Cambodia) via Videoconference.
While lives of millions of people around the world are at risks, no country shall politicise the public health issue and denounce the ability to contain the spread of this infectious disease as it would not add any benefit to the fight against this pandemic, he continued, stressing that in contrast, the regional and global solidarity and unity are indispensable elements during such a crisis period.
In addition, the fight against this global pandemic requires a joint prudent decision-making, under the framework of multilateralism, by respecting international laws and sovereignty of each individual nation, regardless of its size or wealth, with the United Nations and World Health Organisation as the core agencies, he underlined.
“I would like to reiterate Cambodia’s support for the roles of the United Nations and the World Health Organisation in their global efforts to respond and fight against this pandemic. Moreover, Cambodia would like to underline the importance and the urgency of the Covid-19 vaccine as a global public good, which its supply and distribution shall be carried out in a humanitarian spirit for all countries, especially the most vulnerable ones,” the Premier said.
“Though this public health crisis would be over in the near future, all nations must continue addressing these challenges during the period of economic recovery. Indeed, aide could be a small part of recovery process, while the most crucial factors are maintaining multilateralism, globalisation, trade liberalism, regional and global supply chain, cross-border trades, investment, international tourism and people mobility. In this sense, Cambodia would like to express its full supports to the initiative of the UN Secretary-General’s Covid-19 Response and Recovery Trust Fund, which was launched earlier this year,” he added.
On the occasion, Samdech Techo Hun Sen extended his appreciation to Azerbaijan for proposing this Extraordinary Session on “Responses to Covid-19 Pandemic”, so as to mobilise joint and global responses from the international communities in the fight against Covid-19 pandemic.