Akar in UN forum: To intensify efforts to expand existing debt relief initiatives

Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense, Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs in the caretaker government Zeina Akar delivered on Saturday a speech during the political forum of the United Nations Economic and Social Council.

During her speech, Akar voiced hopes that "the Council and its affiliated bodies will continue to stand besides Lebanon as it faces at this critical stage an existential economic, financial and social crisis that has destroyed most of its development achievements in the past three decades.

Akar added that the crisis forced the state authority ‘to rearrange priorities in order to work urgently to eradicate poverty, ensure food security and sustainable access to energy, and attempt to save education and health services, and secure vaccines for all, including foreign workers and refugees.”

“Lebanon renews its call to mitigate the effects of forced displacement on sustainable development, based on the principle of burden-sharing and responsibilities,” Akar said.

She also appealed to the Council to “seek to intensify its efforts with relevant stakeholders to expand existing debt relief initiatives, to also include middle-income countries, and to accelerate the stolen asset recovery process.”


As for the COVID-19 worldwide vaccination, Akar expressed great concerns towards the existence of a global vaccination gap in this regard, and renewed the call for "equity in access to timely vaccines, increased production and equitable distribution of vaccines, and fully-funded global access to the Coronavirus vaccine."