When an unidentified pulmonary disease broke out in the metropolis of Wuhan in Central China, most of our countries showed little concern that they would be personally affected. Few of us imagined that this outbreak would grow first into an epidemic and then quickly into a world-encompassing pandemic – and our haphazard approach to developing a coordinated international response is evidence of that initial attitude of indifference.
While most of us are now quarantining and practicing social distancing, this crisis gives us an opportunity to pause and reflect, rethink old habits and prejudices, and adjust them appropriately. As Chair of the economic and environmental committee of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly – a 323-member body of parliamentarians from North America, Europe and Central Asia, spanning Vancouver to Vladivostok – I hope that principles of solidarity, cooperation and comprehensive security prevail during this period. This means first of all that world leaders should refrain from finger-pointing and blaming the pandemic on one country or another.
After World War II, the international community came together to build multilateral institutions to prevent another global conflagration and in the subsequent decades we saw a rapidly accelerating process of integration between the world’s economies. In the détente era of the 1970s, the East and West came together to establish the OSCE as a forum for dialogue and confidence-building, much of which was based on economic and scientific co-operation. But economic integration and globalization was not without risks and challenges, and the COVID-19 pandemic is revealing this in all its clarity. Delocalized supply chains and dependence on single suppliers have served well to reduce production costs, but have proved to be high-risk and vulnerable in times of crisis.
