Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison spoke with leaders from seven ‘first mover’ nations last night to discuss the appropriate courses of action for the next steps in managing COVID-19.
The meeting was hosted by Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz via a video call, which the Australian Chancellor dubbed the “First Movers COVID Group”. Scott Morrison was joined in the meeting by leaders from Austria, Israel, Denmark Singapore, Greece, Czech Republic and Norway.
Leaders of the countries discussed the most effective ways to “reopen our economies” and considered strategies to manage potential localised outbreaks.
“We swapped notes on the need to reopen our economies safely, including schools, how to manage localised outbreaks, the importance of rigorous tracing and testing, and keeping supply chains open,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison said in his Instagram post.
The Australian Prime Minister stressed his support for the EU-sponsored resolution at the forthcoming World Health Assembly, encouraged greatly by Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis stressed the importance of tourism cooperation between the countries of the group, which record very low cases in the field of tourism.
The Prime Minister proposed a more systematic discussion between them, which will also concern specific protocols. The goal is to create “safe corridors” that will allow people to be transported between specific countries, based on rules.
Of the meeting participants, Greece has recorded the least cases, followed by Australia.
Scott Morrison remains one of the few world leaders to speak out about the need for an independent review of the global response to COVID-19, also raising it for discussion in the leader’s meeting. The Prime Minister wishes to attend the World Health Assembly in mid-May and call for an investigation into COVID-19, to enable a better response to future pandemics.
