Press Releases
Foreign Minister Hayashi’s Attendance at the COVID-19 Global Action Meeting hosted by the Honorable Antony Blinken, Secretary of State of the United States of America
February 15, 2022
On February 14, commencing at around 10:30 p.m. (JST), Mr.HAYASHI Yoshimasa, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, attended the COVID-19 Global Action Meeting hosted by the Honorable Antony Blinken, Secretary of State of the United States of America. The overview of the event is as follows.
- At the outset, Secretary Blinken announced that the United States of America would like to promote concrete actions by each country through implementing the “COVID-19 Prioritized Global Action Plan for Enhanced Engagement (GAP)” in order to contain COVAD-19 during the year of 2022 and to strengthen readiness for future pandemics.
- In response, Minister HAYASHI presented Japan’s contributions so far to ensure equitable access to vaccines including through the 1 billion USD financial contribution to the COVAX Facility as well as more than 40 million doses of vaccine donations. Minister Hayashi also stated that Japan has provided "Last One Mile Support" in about 60 countries around the world in order to strengthen the delivery and vaccination capacities, and that Japan would lead the efforts to “Get Shots in Arms”, among the six pillars of the GAP, in cooperation with other countries.
- Moreover, Minister HAYASHI mentioned the necessity to further strengthen cooperation between finance and health authorities to prevent, prepare and respond to future health threats, emphasizing that Japan would proactively contribute to the discussions in fora such as WHO and G20, and continuously contribute to strengthening health and medical systems especially in Africa, including through the 8th Tokyo International Conference on African Development, TICAD 8, to be held in the end of August this year.
- Secretary Blinken appreciated Japan’s significant contributions including "Last One Mile Support" in about 60 countries around the world.
- With the attendees of the event, such as Foreign Ministers and other representatives from Germany, France, Senegal, Canada, Italy, Colombia, Spain, Saudi Arabia among other countries, and Dr. Tedros, Director-General of WHO, as well as representatives from European Union and African Union, active and fruitful discussions were made.