On August 10, 2020, the Secretary General of the Economic Cooperation Organization, Dr. Hadi Soleimanpour and the ECO Secretariat’s Director for Human Resource & Sustainable Development, Mr. Kaan Sayin participated in a live webinar organized by the ECO Science Foundation in collaboration with Center of Excellence for International Economics (CEIE), University of Isfahan- Islamic Republic of Iran, to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on health and economy in the ECO region.
Referring to over one million and forty thousand people of the ECO countries who were reported to be tested positive for COVID-19 of which around 3.1% lost their lives on average due to the disease, as of August 1 2020, the ECO Secretary General underscored the strategy of reducing contagion and to flatten the caseload curve that aims not only to protect the most vulnerable populations but also to avoid excessive pressure on the region’s health system, in a bid to facilitate as much as people with the required remedies. Dr. Soleimanpour conveyed that managing the economic implications of the pandemic during 2020 and the years ahead remained the top priority of all Member States and the ECO Secretariat in close consultation with the their Council of Permanent Representatives, taking some feasible initiatives to appropriately address the needs and requirements of the region in the ongoing era of crunch as well as the post-pandemic conditions. He highlighted the importance of Member States’ monetary requirements especially in 2020 and 2021, for mobilizing the available resources to counter the COVID-19 crisis, that is a critical concern for sustainability since majority of ECO Member States are expected to experience, primarily current account deficit and total budget deficit for 2020 and probably in 2021 as well.
Among other participants of the event were: President ECO Science Foundation, Prof. Dr. Manzoor Hussain Soomro; Chair Department of Global Health & Public Policy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Prof. Dr. Amirhossein Takian; Chief Economist of CAREC Institute, Dr. Hans Holzhaker; Vice President of University of Health Science, Turkey, Prof. Dr. Mustafa Gerek and Director, Center of Excellence for International Economics (CEIE), University of Isfahan, Prof. Dr. Syed Komail Tayebi.
Responding to a query during question and answer session,Mr. Kaan Sayin mentioned that a “One Health” approach that can be defined as the collaborative effort across multiple disciplines to attain optimal health for people, animals and the environment, might be alternatively effective to prevent future pandemics. He stated that the “Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction” which covers certain areas of importance also includes the biological hazards, providing valuable guidance to prevent pandemics and other related crisis. Mr. Sayin noted that the SFDRR was the only roadmap, which has been globally agreed for reducing such risks.
