Turkey held the first "Antalya Diplomacy Forum" under the theme: "Innovative Diplomacy: New Era, New Approaches."
Largely ignored by mainstream western media, June 18-20 Antalya Diplomacy Forum brought together 10 heads of state and government, 42 foreign ministers, three former heads of state and government, and more than 50 representatives of international organizations or former government officials.
In his inaugural speech Turkish President Erdogan said the Covid-19 outbreak has "sharpened injustice" in the world, urging world leaders not to permit vaccine nationalism to take hold.
President Erdogan pointed out that the international community "failed to give a good test" in managing the coronavirus pandemic.
The UN Security Council put "the biggest health crisis in history" on its agenda only 100 days after the outbreak erupted, Erdogan said.
Urging world leaders not to permit vaccine nationalism to take hold and not to repeat the same mistakes as the pandemic progresses, Erdogan underlined that the virus outbreak had "sharpened the injustice" in the world.
Echoing President Erdogan's argument, Kenyan President told the Forum that it is unfortunate that some countries have more Covid-19 vaccines than they require while others are struggling to access enough doses.
The Kenyan leader said the slow flow of Covid-19 vaccines into developing countries was indicative of the warped global multilateral system. He observed that the initial collaborative successes in the management of the pandemic have been negated by the unfair global distribution of the vaccines.
President Kenyatta observed that the global multilateral system was not operating optimally and expressed optimism that world leaders will through diplomacy and dialogue develop a new order that fosters inclusivity.
"We have seen that the global governance system is not actually working for equality and fairness for all global citizens, and I think it just draws us to the reality that we have a challenge and that the challenge can only be overcome if we democratize more our global governance systems, if we are more inclusive in our decision making processes," President Kenyatta said.
Antalya Diplomacy Forum has seen a high turnout from the leaders and foreign ministers of different countries, with Cavusoglu holding more than 50 bilateral meetings. A total of 11 heads of state and government, 45 foreign ministers, and attendance at ministerial level were part of the forum, according Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.
"This means that one out of every five foreign ministers in the world was here," Mevlut Cavusoglu told the closing session.
Additionally, the event was attended by about 60 representatives of international organizations and high-level personalities, many Turkish and foreign guests from the business and academic world, and 256 young people in total, including undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students from more than 50 universities.
"We hope that the Antalya Diplomacy Forum will be a place where everyone who seeks creative solutions to international problems can take part. Hopefully, Antalya Diplomacy Forum will become a long-term platform," he concluded.
Mevlut Cavusoglu said it became one of the first and biggest international events during the pandemic and it was held under compliance with all health measures.
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