Ivona Ladjevac on how the BRI contributes to building a global community of health for all amid COVID pandemic

Interview Series: Community with a Shared Future for Mankind

EP05: Ivona Ladjevac on how the BRI contributes to building a global community of health for all amid COVID pandemic

As the world enters a post-pandemic era when COVID-19 still poses great challenges to global recovery, what’s the significance of the vision of a global community of health for all, and how does BRI health cooperation continue functioning in improving global public health governance?

Today, we are honored to have Ivona Ladjevac, head of the center for the Belt and Road Initiative at the Institute of International Politics and Economics in Serbia, to share her observations on this topic in this exclusive interview with Guangming Online.

Q1: COVID-19 is actually a sober reminder that public health security is a common challenge for humankind. In this regard, how do you think of the significance of the health cooperation under the BRI?

Ivona Ladjevac: Well, it is very important because that was the area that was neglected before the pandemic. Now people are aware that they can cooperate also in this area. And this is not only when we are talking about the COVID-19, I think that all countries should much more cooperate in the health area as a whole, because there are a lot of diseases that should be treated. Unfortunately, there is a lot of money that are wasted for other purposes, that money can be invested in the health system.

Also, as I said before there is cooperation of China with Central and Eastern European countries. We had some kind of hubs for cooperation and for different areas, which includes infrastructure, energy and etc. But there was the lack for medical area. There was no country that served as a hub, and this is something that should be fulfilled. As we saw, it's very important to have a good medical cooperation. Unfortunately, money can’t secure your health, so it is important to do more on that, to preserve what we have.

Q2: In 2020, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for building a global community of health for all in the 73rd World Health Assembly. What's your take on this vision, and how does healthcare cooperation under the BRI framework help its implementation?

Ivona Ladjevac: Well, I'm sure that the Belt Road Initiative as is designed as an initiative that will provide common future for all participant countries. One of the important aspects is this aspect of health community. In that sense, I think that it can add some different values to the World Health Organization and to other projects that are going to be delivered or designed under this idea.

Speaking of WHO, it would be so normal for that organization to do more on fair relations among countries and cooperation in this area, show much of solidarity and work harder on these ideas.

What we need is cooperation, and what we need is solidarity. In that respect, we should all act as one and to perform our unity. In that sense, we can do that under the Belt and Road Initiative. I can't see why not, because, as I said, there are more than 150 countries that are under that idea. So that would be excellent starting point to work more on health cooperation.