GZERO Media Town Hall: Could our response to COVID help end poverty?
June 26, 2020
VIDEOSGZERO World with Ian BremmerQuick TakePUPPET REGIMEIan ExplainsGZERO ReportsAsk IanGlobal Stage
Site Navigation
Search
Human content,
AI powered search.
Latest Stories
Sign up for GZERO Daily.
Get our latest updates and insights delivered to your inbox.
Puppet Regime is up for a Webby Award!
VOTE HERE
Events
Presented by
GZERO Media, in partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Eurasia Group, today hosted its first virtual town hall on how to fight global poverty amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The panel featured Gates Foundation CEO Mark Suzman, Eurasia Group and GZERO Media President Ian Bremmer, and Vera Songwe, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. The conversation was moderated by Africa No Filter's Moky Makura.
Watch the full video above.
Has the pandemic strengthened or weakened multilateral organizations?
Songwe:
- It has reinforced and strengthened them, not weakened them, by creating space for larger collaborative platforms. At the UN, we are bringing in some of the leading economists and think tanks in the world to think about how we can respond to this crisis differently. Questions about inclusion and participation are already starting to come to the table, as the UN's open platform brings in civil society voices on this subject. The World Health Organization has been a shining light, guiding us in terms of the scientific evidence, while other institutions, like the Centers for Disease Control in Africa and elsewhere, have been particularly important.
- But resources are slim. We need to shore these multilateral institutions with more professional and scientific staff, as well as more financing for the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, so they can respond in a timely manner to the economic aspect of this crisis.
How do we ensure that if a COVID-19 vaccine is developed, it can reach every corner of the globe?
Suzman:
- Let polio be an example. Last week, Africa was officially declared polio-free by the WHO, meaning the only parts of the world that still have the disease are Afghanistan and Pakistan. That shows you what can be done, even in very challenging logistical environments. The world knows how to do it. GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, has probably saved more lives in the last 20 years than any collaborative effort in human history. I'm relatively optimistic. It is challenging, but we know how to do it. We have the constructs, we have the supply chains, we have the health systems.
- What we don't have is the money and resources to be able to procure at scale in sufficient volume. What is equitable distribution and how do you do it rapidly at a time when so many individual countries may try to lock up supply for their own citizens. It's an understandable impulse, but there's a risk that this kind of "vaccine nationalism" actually sets the world back.
Should low- and middle-income countries be entitled to debt relief amid the pandemic?
Bremmer:
- Sure, but under what conditions? Austerity-based reforms that Western economists believe will create more sustainable long-term growth can cause enormous hardship for populations that you don't really want to hurt. Loans are also often attached to political reforms — and that's where China is going to be critical to the debt relief equation, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, where Beijing isn't going to demand the same kind of economic or political liberalization in exchange for support. Frequently the Chinese conditions are much more opaque, sometimes beholding these countries to China's economic and political interests, which may not be good for either the world or these countries' populations.
- I think we have to worry that as the global order is fragmenting, especially as the US and China are at much greater odds with each other. We could well be fighting over conditionality and debt for some of the most vulnerable countries, and that's something that we're going to have to pay attention to.
Keep reading...Show less
More from Events
Belarus’s leader is stuck between Kyiv and the Kremlin
June 26, 2026
Mass layoffs inbound at Volkswagen
June 26, 2026
You vs. the News: A Weekly News Quiz - June 26, 2026
June 26, 2026
Trump and Xi consult AI
Jun 25, 2026
The next El Niño could be the strongest yet
June 25, 2026
Record temperatures roil France
June 25, 2026
Preserving presidential history for America’s 250th
June 25, 2026
Sexual violence in Sudan war
June 24, 2026
What’s Good Wednesday: June 24, 2026
June 24, 2026
Ebola cases top 1,000
June 23, 2026
Empowering associates with comprehensive benefits
June 22, 2026
Josh Shapiro on how Democrats can learn to love AI
June 22, 2026
WWII-related dispute rocks Ukraine-Poland relations
June 22, 2026
AI becomes a top global concern
June 22, 2026
Scaling AI without scaling resource use
June 22, 2026
The false Thucydides trap?
June 20, 2026
The future of the Democratic party, with Josh Shapiro
June 20, 2026
A frozen labor market in the US?
Jun 19, 2026
Is Russia the biggest geopolitical tail risk today?
June 18, 2026
Peru’s Fujimori rocked the boat – can she settle it?
June 18, 2026
Canada shows another red card at the border
June 18, 2026
The Middle East enters the G-Zero
June 17, 2026
The power of sports
June 17, 2026
What’s Good Wednesday: June 17, 2026
June 17, 2026
Is it coming home?
June 17, 2026
The growing strategic importance of the Arctic
June 17, 2026
AI, jobs, and the next generation
June 16, 2026
Cape Verde’s keeper goes viral
June 16, 2026
What’s the role of the G7 in a G-Zero world?
June 16, 2026
Why national teams spark culture wars at the World Cup
June 16, 2026
Germany and France try to screw in a lightbulb
June 16, 2026
A World Cup of many homelands
June 15, 2026
US and Iran reach framework peace deal
June 15, 2026
UK set to ban under-16s from social media
June 15, 2026
The most political World Cup ever?
June 15, 2026
The World Cup is more political than you think
Jun 12, 2026
Cuba’s next fuel shipment in purgatory
June 12, 2026
Trump Delivers Welcome at FIFA World Cup
June 12, 2026
The Rainbow Nation has an issue with its neighbors
June 12, 2026
You vs. the News: A Weekly News Quiz - June 12, 2026
June 12, 2026
Is Putin running out of options in Ukraine?
June 11, 2026
Length of Russia-Ukraine war surpasses World War I
June 11, 2026
Can a World Cup host score a political goal?
June 11, 2026
Why FIFA is the most powerful organization in sports
June 11, 2026
Investing in skills. Strengthening communities.
June 10, 2026
Trump, the accidental green president
June 10, 2026
What’s Good Wednesday: June 10, 2026
June 10, 2026
The battle for the Senate
June 09, 2026
Iraqi Kurdish migrants’ perilous journey
June 09, 2026
Time for a US-Canada marriage counselor?
June 09, 2026
Americans are losing faith in the Supreme Court
June 09, 2026
Growth in US AI adoption highlights uneven access
June 08, 2026
Graphic Truth: Global views of Israel are souring
June 08, 2026
Iran ceasefire frays
June 08, 2026
In first, Japanese mayor takes maternity leave
June 08, 2026
US Supreme Court cases that could change the presidency
June 08, 2026
Kast’s honeymoon is over
June 05, 2026
You vs. the News: A Weekly News Quiz - June 5, 2026
June 05, 2026
Supreme Court to rule on birthright and more this month
June 04, 2026
GZERO Series
GZERO World with Ian Bremmer
Puppet Regime
Quick Take
ask ian
Ian Explains
GZERO Reports
GZERO Europe
The Debrief
© 2026 GZERO Media. All Rights Reserved | A Eurasia Group company.
GZERO Daily: our free newsletter about global politics
Keep up with what’s going on around the world - and why it matters.