G20 Joint Finance & Health Ministers’ Meeting

By
Sohail Ahmad
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First G20 Health Ministerial Meeting, Indonesia
First G20 Health Ministerial Meeting, Indonesia

Yogyakarta, 22 June 2022 (TDI): The Ministries of Health and Finance of the Republic of Indonesia held a hybrid version of the first G20 Joint Finance and Health Ministers’ Meeting (JFHMM).

The meeting was led by the Indonesioan Minister of Health, Budi Gunadi Sadikin, and the Minister of Finance, Sri Mulyani Indrawati.

The goal of the JFHMM was to get advice from the G20 Finance and Health Ministers about some of the progress made by the Joint Finance and Health Task Force (JFHTF). It was attended by G20 members, invited guests, and international organizations (IOs).

The JFHTF is a group of finance and health officials who work together to improve communication and global cooperation on issues related to pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response (PPR).

On account of this, they encourage the exchange of experiences and best practices and set up ways for the Finance Ministry and the Health Ministry to work together. This is called a “One Health” approach.

Meeting’s Agenda

The result of yesterday’s JFHMM meeting will be used as a starting point for discussions at the next meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) next month, and the next JFHTF meeting will continue the conversation.

In October 2021, the leaders of the G20 agreed that the funding for pandemic PPR needs to be made more adequate, stable, and well-coordinated by looking into new ways to pay for it.

As asked by the G20 leaders, the JFHTF gave a report to the 1st JFHMM while Indonesia was in charge of the G20. This can be done with the help of a Finance and Health Coordination Platform for Pandemic PPR Financing (Coordination Platform).

The platform can also give valuable information about how to best spend money on pandemic PPR. In addition, the G20 Finance Ministers and Health Ministers both said they were in favor of a permanent, adaptable G20 collaboration model.

This Model could be slowly and selectively used with countries outside of the G20. Most Finance Ministers and Health Ministers agreed that a new multilateral financing mechanism was needed to fill the funding gaps for pandemic PPR.

Moreover, members welcomed the recent progress made toward creating a Financial Intermediary Fund (FIF) that will be housed at the World Bank.

They will continue to talk about the FIF’s governance and how it will work before the G20 leaders decide whether or not to support it at their Summit in November.

In line with what the President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo has said, the global health sector agenda is a top priority for Indonesia as it leads the G20.

In this situation, Indonesia, as the leader of the G20, promised to come up with concrete results that support and add to the proposal to set up the FIF.

Remarks by Ministers

Meanwhile, in her speech, Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said, “I am happy to say that almost USD 1.1 billion has been pledged to the Financial Intermediary Fund for pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response.”

Minister Mulyani also said that everyone needs to work together to stop the global pandemic. “Inclusion is the most important thing so that the Finance & Health Ministries in both developed and developing countries can work together.”

Similarly, Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin also pointed out that the FIF has a unique goal to improve pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response around the world.

The next important step is to decide what the FIF’s investment priorities will be.” Minister Budi Further added that “Today is a big step toward a better way for the health and finance sectors to work together.

This would be to prevent pandemics, get ready for them, and deal with them when they happen. Let’s keep working together to make sure everyone is healthy and wealthy. ”

Remarks by President of the World Bank Group

David Malpass, the President of the World Bank Group, at the G20 Joint Finance and Health Ministers Meeting stated, “When IBRD and IDA are added together, the World Bank is the largest source of financing for PPR-specific and supportive operations.”

He further added that “It has an active portfolio of US $30 billion in over 100 countries to help strengthen health systems.”

David Malpass also said that it gives us hope that more than $1 billion has already been pledged to the PPR FIF. This includes money from the US, the EU, Indonesia, Germany, the Welcome Trust, and the Gates Foundation.

In November 2022, the 17th G20 Heads of State and Government Summit will be held in Bali. The G20 process and the hard work done in ministerial meetings, working groups, and engagement groups all year long will come to a head at the Summit.