Speaker of the Council of Representatives and Chairperson of the Executive Committee of the Parliamentary Delegation, Fawzia bint Abdulla Zainal, has asserted that under the leadership of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, Bahrain has taken proactive steps since the spread of COVID-19, and charted its course of action based on the established national fundamentals in respecting human rights and public freedoms.
As a result, the kingdom achieved fruitful results in mitigating the repercussions of the pandemic and providing the internationally-authorised vaccines for all the citizens and residents free of charge, earning the acclaim and admiration of other countries and international organisations, she said.
The speaker made the statements while addressing a session of the 142nd Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), which focused on “renewed multilateral cooperation and dialogue to tackle global challenges, including possible future pandemics.”
She indicated that the national action in the kingdom has been based on solid Legislature-Executive cooperation and the concerted efforts of Team Bahrain, led by His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, in order to achieve stability for the country and society at all levels.
She pointed out that the pandemic has affected all countries, which requires concerted collective global efforts to achieve the secure goals for all parts of the world.
She stressed that the most important lesson learnt from the current crisis is that humanity will not be able to reach sustainable future goals, unless it tends to achieve equality as much as possible, and moves faster to unify efforts and energies, to ensure that the vaccine reaches all equally, based on a common human destiny.
The Speaker noted that parliamentarians, as representatives of peoples, are required to look for practical measures and come up with effective recommendations, including the mechanisms to be put in place to ensure that the citizens of low-income countries have access to treatment and vaccines, as achieving a balance is needed in order to reach societal immunity, and prevent the emergence of more strains and mutations of the virus.
She backed the tendency of some countries to urge the World Trade Organisation to temporarily waive intellectual property rights for Covid-19 vaccines in order to increase vaccine production.
The speaker called on parliaments to support the role of the UN and its organisations and agencies in addressing the issues related to sustainable development.
