On November 15–16, 2022, the Group of Twenty (G20) met in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia, for their seventeenth annual summit, under the theme ‘Recover Together, Recover Stronger.’
The G20 is a summit of the world’s major economies. Its members are responsible for more than 80% of the world’s gross domestic product, 75% of global trade, and 60% of the world’s total population.
The G20 is made up of 19 countries and the European Union. The 19 countries are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the UK, and the US.
On Wednesday, the G20 leaders issued a joint declaration at the end of the summit advocating for a universal standard on proof of vaccination for international travel and urging the creation of “global digital health networks to strengthen prevention and response to future pandemics.”
The declaration comes after the Health Minister of Indonesia, Budi Gunadi Sadikin, advocated for a global digital health certificate during the B20 Summit in Bali, Indonesia.
Speaking to the crowd, Sadikin said, “Let’s have a digital health certificate acknowledged by WHO. If you have been vaccinated or tested properly, then you can move around. So for the next pandemic, instead of stopping the movement of the people one hundred percent, which [collapse] the economy globally, you can still provide some movement of the people.”
Sadikin went on to say that an agreement to have this digital certificate using WHO standards had been reached between the G20 countries and Indonesia.
Watch the video below:
At the B20 Summit Budi Gunadi Sadikin, Indonesian Health Minister calls for a digital health certificate:
“Let’s have a digital health certificate acknowledged by WHO. If you have been vaccinated or tested properly, then you can move around…” pic.twitter.com/cFYhgu2xTT
— ❣️Anne❣️ (@USA_Anne711) November 15, 2022
In a press conference following the conclusion of the summit, Indonesian President and G20 host Joko Widodo said, “world leaders agreed on the content of the declaration.”
Paragraph 23 of the G20 Bali Leaders’ Declaration states:
We recognize the need for strengthening local and regional health product manufacturing capacities and cooperation as well as sustainable global and regional research and development networks to facilitate better access to vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics (VTDs) globally, especially in developing countries, and underscore the importance of public-private partnership, and technology transfer and knowledge sharing on voluntary and mutually agreed terms.
We support the WHO mRNA Vaccine Technology Transfer hub as well as all as the spokes in all regions of the world with the objective of sharing technology and technical know-how on voluntary and mutually agreed terms. We welcome joint research and joint production of vaccines, including enhanced cooperation among developing countries.
We acknowledge the importance of shared technical standards and verification methods, under the framework of the IHR (2005), to facilitate seamless international travel, interoperability, and recognizing digital solutions and non-digital solutions, including proof of vaccinations. We support continued international dialogue and collaboration on the establishment of trusted global digital health networks as part of the efforts to strengthen prevention and response to future pandemics, that should capitalize and build on the success of the existing standards and digital COVID-19 certificates.
https://twitter.com/BernieSpofforth/status/1593158578071736320?s=20&t=4tUwNKAMpwesqqCjgGl1ug
