In this file photo dated Feb 16, 2022, officials walk near a banner for the G20 finance ministers and central governors meeting during preparations in Jakarta.
(MAST IRHAM / POOL / AFP)
JAKARTA / MOSCOW – The Group of 20 (G20) foreign ministers will gather in Indonesia's tourist island of Bali on Thursday and Friday to discuss the global crisis and recovery efforts.
According to a press statement released on Wednesday by the Indonesian Foreign Affairs Ministry, this year's foreign ministers meeting will hold two sessions.
The G20 foreign ministers' first session on strengthening multilateralism will discuss joint steps to enhance global collaboration and build mutual trust among countries, which will become an enabling environment for world stability, peace, and development
The first session on strengthening multilateralism will discuss joint steps to enhance global collaboration and build mutual trust among countries, which will become an enabling environment for world stability, peace, and development.
The second one on food and energy security will discuss strategic steps to overcome the food crisis, fertilizers shortage, and rising global commodity prices and disruption of global supply chains.
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Special attendees that will speak in the forum include United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Executive Director of the UN World Food Programme David Beasley, and the World Bank Managing Director of Development Policy and Partnerships Mari Elka Pangestu.
Putin intends to attend Nov summit
Also on Wednesday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said its has informed Jakarta of Russian President Vladimir Putin's intention to participate in the G20 leaders summit in November.
The format of Putin's participation will depend on the global situation, taking into account the sanitary and epidemiological situation in Southeast Asia, the ministry said in a statement.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will lead the Russian delegation to the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting, it added.
Pandemic fund
Indonesian Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin earlier said that the G20 expects to collect no less than $1.5 billion by the end of this year to build infrastructures to prevent and prepare for potential pandemics in the future.
The commitment to establishing the fund, called the Financial Intermediary Fund (FIF), was agreed upon by the health ministers of G20 members, along with the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO), at the first Health Ministerial Meeting held on June 20 to 21 in Indonesia's Yogyakarta.
The fund will be housed by the World Bank, while the WHO will advise the implementation and allocation of the money.
Sadikin elaborated several allocation plans for the fund, including building and improving access to emergency medical countermeasures, establishing a global network of genomic surveillance labs, and building global research and manufacturing hubs.
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A construction worker walks as the 122-meter-tall Garuda Wisnu Kencana Statue looms in the background at Garuda Wisnu Kencana Cultural Park which is prepared to be used as one of the venues of the G20 leaders summit, in Bali, Indonesia, May 25, 2022. (DITA ALANGKARA / AP)