(VOVWORLD) - An upsurge in new coronavirus variants and poor access to vaccines in developing countries threaten the global economic recovery, finance ministers of the world’s 20 largest economies warned on Saturday.
 Panoramic view of Incheon container port in Seoul, South Korea. (Illustrated photo: AFP/VNA)
|
The G20 gathering in the Italian city of Venice was the ministers’ first face-to-face meeting since the start of the pandemic.
A final communique said the global economic outlook had improved since G20 talks in April thanks to the rollout of vaccines and economic support packages, but acknowledged its fragility in the face of variants like the fast-spreading Delta.
The communique, while stressing support for “equitable global sharing” of vaccines, did not propose concrete measures, merely acknowledging a recommendation for 50 billion USD in new vaccine financing by the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, World Health Organization and World Trade Organization.
For the first time in their official statement on Saturday, G20 finance ministers recognized a carbon tax as a potential tool to tackle climate change. Taxing carbon is part of a set of tools that countries need to work together to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, they said.