Germany’s Maas warns against ‘national ego’ during Covid-19 crisis
German foreign minister Heiko Maas has called for international solidarity amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“The national efforts that are required of all of us now must not result in a spiral of national ego,” Maas told dpa ahead of a scheduled G7 meeting on Wednesday.
“The German government’s priority is to coordinate our actions with partners worldwide and to show solidarity wherever we have scope for doing so,” he said.
The foreign ministers of the G7’s seven major economies are to hold a four-hour video conference on Wednesday afternoon, with the rapid spread of the coronavirus set to be one of the main topics.
A World Health Organization official said on Tuesday that the United States could become the new epicentre of the pandemic, while Italy is currently experiencing the worst outbreak globally and has recorded over 6,820 deaths.
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Maas said the G7 countries have been hit harder by coronavirus than most of the world, although the virus originated in China in December.
“Anyone who now sees the challenge this crisis poses to the G7 countries, despite all their economic strength and concentrated medical know-how, can calculate how serious the consequences can be elsewhere,” he said. (dpa)
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