"As the world economy continues to suffer and the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage, all parties have a fuller understanding of the need to strengthen collaboration," Yaroslav Lissovolik, program director of Russia's think tank Valdai Discussion Club, told Xinhua in a recent interview.
Speaking of the upcoming G20 summit scheduled for Nov. 21-22 via video link, Lissovolik said that this meeting will discuss joint responses to the pandemic, as "the issue has received a lot of global attention."
He voiced confidence that the G20 will cover response mechanisms, and work on strengthening real-time monitoring of the epidemic, formulating anti-epidemic collaboration strategies among the world's major economies, and actively promoting collaboration with the World Health Organization.
Regarding the impact of the pandemic worldwide, Lissovolik pointed out that the global economic landscape has undergone great changes.
"This crisis is rather unique. To a large extent, it has severely affected both the demand and supply sides, causing the world to implement unprecedented anti-epidemic measures," Lissovolik said.
"It is obvious that all parties need to take new actions and establish new cooperation models to deal with this crisis," he added.
Envisioning the global scenario of the COVID-19 pandemic, Lissovolik said that the current second wave will undoubtedly cause damage to the global economy.
"Due to the fact that countries have gained experience during the first coronavirus wave, the second wave may have a weaker impact and economic expenditures may be reduced. They will not be as huge as those during the first wave," the expert said.
"However, there are still uncertainties when it comes to the predictions of future trends in relation to COVID-19," he said.
Under such circumstances, Lissovolik said, it is necessary for the G20 to boost collaboration through innovative methods, and expand interaction with the organization's partners.
"Only in this way can resources such as vaccines be allocated more efficiently, and the negative impact of the epidemic can be fully monitored to minimize the damage," he stressed.
"The world currently needs more openness and cooperation and will need to foster multilateralism and bring impetus towards increased openness on the international market, which in return will produce important positive effects for the recovery and development of the world economy," Lissovolik said.
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