EU reorients local support to reflect COVID-19 reality

…says Guyana to benefit from regional €1B aid

High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the European Commission, Osep Borrell Fontelles said that the bloc of nations would be reformulating its bilateral programmes in Guyana to take into account the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) reality.

The announcement was made on Wednesday as part of the EU’s almost one billion euros being made available to Latin America and the Caribbean as part of the global response in support of the efforts of partner countries to tackle COVID-19.
He said, “In Guyana, specifically, the EU Delegation is reformulating important parts of its sizeable cooperation programmes towards fighting COVID and its long-term impacts, and also undertaking immediate concrete action.”
He noted as an example, that in collaboration with the Rotary Club of Demerara, the Delegation is making this week an urgent donation of personal computers and smartphones to the Deaf Association of Guyana, and additional personal computers and smartphones will be donated to Guyana Society for the Blind. “The devices are to aid both organisations in their communication needs, especially during this period where movement and regular daily activities are restricted.”
According to the European plenipotentiary representative to Guyana, the coronavirus is a critical test of resilience for societies, economies, and governance around the world.
“In the face of a global pandemic, there is no room for exclusively national responses or an interested use of cooperation or economic power for geopolitical purposes,” according to Fontelles.
According to the European diplomat “without mutual support or joint global actions, the impact of the disease can be even more devastating for everyone.”
Speaking to the support being provided generally, he noted that nine million euros would be allocated to finance the work of the Pan American Health Organisation [PAHO] and the International Federation of the Red Cross in Venezuela and neighbouring countries.
He said in the Caribbean, the EU was supporting the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) with nine million euros, and specifically in Jamaica, the EU has financed 29 ventilators for intensive care units.
According to Fontelles, “both Guyana and Suriname will benefit from the CARPHA and PAHO interventions. “
The diplomat reminded also that the European Investment Bank has already announced that it would mobilise up to 5.2 billion euros to respond to urgent financing needs in more than 100 countries worldwide.
The EU support comes as part of its reorientation of the technical and financial cooperation programmes with Latin America and the Caribbean to respond to this pandemic, with a total of 918 million euros.
He noted that “beyond these resources, where our strategic partnership with Latin America and the Caribbean can be most effective is promoting together a robust, coordinated and multilateral response.” According to Fontelles, “our regions have known how to respond to the health crisis, applying drastic but necessary measures such as social distancing or confinement”, but the health crisis knows no borders, regions, or countries.
He cautioned that the challenge has only just begun and that “the coronavirus is causing a global economic crisis, which will increase inequalities and more severely affect the most vulnerable.”
According to Fontelles, Europe and Latin America can do much more together, advancing a multilateral agenda in the G20, the United Nations and the multilateral financial institutions, so that there was more fiscal space to avoid health collapse, economic collapse and a serious social crisis.