PM calls for COVID-19-related debt write-offs at PROSUR meeting

Prime Minister, Retired Brigadier Mark Phillips on Thursday called for more to be done to help developing countries recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prime Minister Phillips was at the time representing President Dr Irfaan Ali at a virtual extraordinary summit of Heads of State at the Forum for the Progress and Integration of South America (PROSUR).

The meeting focused on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the continent.
According to a Department of Public Information (DPI) report, during his address, Phillips said that Guyana was looking forward to working with the countries of PROSUR to combat the pandemic and to ensure that adequate relief measures were instituted, such as viable economic and social programmes.
He also called for a more collaborative approach within the international financial system to consider debt write-offs of COVID-19-related financing and better refinancing conditions to allow developing countries time to recover before having to repay.
Additionally, the Prime Minister asked PROSUR to focus on the surveillance of new variants of the coronavirus and to explore opportunities for regional networking in order to access genetic sequencing of the virus and for viruses that may appear in the future.
PROSUR, which was created in March 2019, is currently chaired by Colombian President Ivan Duque. It includes formal Member States Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, and Guyana. Uruguay and Suriname also participated in Thursday’s video conference.
Pan-American Health Organisation (PAHO) Director General, Dr Carissa F Etienne; Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) President Mauricio Claver-Carone and International Monetary Fund’s Western Hemispheric Department Director, Alejandro Werner were special guests at the meeting.