New Zealand's PM Adern to chair emergency APEC virtual meet to discuss COVID-19 recession

Leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) including New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and US President Joe Biden will hold a virtual meeting on Friday. The digital meeting which is scheduled for Friday between the APEC countries-- an inter-governmental forum for 21 member economies in the Pacific Rim that promotes free trade throughout the Asia-Pacific region-- would be an additional meeting to be held four months before it is scheduled. 

A  statement released by the organisation said that an immediate conference has been called by New Zealand's Prime Minister Ardern to discuss the Asia-Pacific region's response to COVID-19 and its economic impact. The organisation also confirmed that Ardern's counterpart Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin would also participate, along with the majority of other APEC leaders on Friday.

First time in APEC's history that leaders have had an additional meeting: Ardern

While elaborating the agenda of the virtual conference, the organisation said that the APEC countries have suffered their biggest loss due to the ferocious coronavirus. It noted that the contraction has jolted over the jobs of over 81 million people and has become one of the biggest recessions since World War II. 

"As the pandemic has devasted the economies of the world most powerful countries. Therefore, we have decided to hold a meeting that would reflect our desire to navigate together out of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis," Ardern said in an official statement and added that this would be the first such in the history of APEC that the leaders have had an additional meeting.

Meeting would also focus on the COVID vaccine drive

Ardern further maintained that the virtual conference would also focus on the manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines and the plans to execute the distribution in an efficient way. Reiterating the importance of vaccination, she noted that the leaders will ensure working together to get rid of this deadly pandemic and added "nobody is safe until everyone is safe".

"Our region has already responded in significant ways, including removing barriers to the efficient distribution of vaccines and related goods, but there is still a lot of work to do to get through the crisis," read the statement of Prime Minister Ardern. "Leaders will share information so we can continue to build on our collective understanding of the region’s health response to COVID-19, and shape a collaborative economic response,” Ardern was quoted in a statement.