by Jamil Bhatti
ISLAMABAD, April 10 (Xinhua) -- As COVID-19 is posing a grave challenge for all human beings, countries across the world should abandon differences at this critical moment so as to enhance international cooperation and coordination to deal with the daunting threat, said a Pakistani analyst.
In a recent interview with Xinhua, Khalid Rahman, director-general of Institute of Policy Studies, one of the top think tanks in Pakistan, said the virus has made people realize that all human beings are one despite their differences in colors, races, nationalities and languages.
"Their challenges can only be dealt with if they have a common and coordinated strategy," he said.
Rahman said the human race, backed by modern technologies, has a great opportunity to cooperate by sharing experience in different parts of the globe and offering assistance to others to tackle the COVID-19 challenge.
"It would be a great failure on the part of the global leadership, and leadership in different countries if they fail to avail this chance," he said.
"Every country has its own government system, social dynamics and resources but the virus does not care about that. It is a reminder to all that they are facing a common enemy and they can fight against it by pooling their strength, and the strength cannot be pooled unless they have very good coordination," said the expert.
In the eyes of Rahman, the pandemic would not only have impact on the health sector, but also have longer and deeper implications on micro as well as macro economies and the current global order.
He noted that the world should have a fresh strategy and system based on concrete multilateral coordination and cooperation to handle the possible impacts.
With joint efforts, some major countries should utilize the United Nations as a platform for discussions and coordination to form new cooperative mechanism that can benefit all countries equally, said Rahman.
"We all have a shared destiny. As human beings, we share our problems when we share our interests," he said. "Unless we change the paradigm, the individual cases would continue when a country would use the opportunity for its own interests by sacrificing the interests of others."
Rahman said China has responded to COVID-19 in a fast and calm manner, shared information with the world and helped others with its experiences, expertise and medical aids.
It is worth highlighting that China's approach to solve the global problem promotes honest cooperation and coordination when the world faces an unexpected challenge, Rahman said.
