Munich Security Conference: Joe Biden tells EU "America is back"

The Munich Security Conference (MSC) has begun as world leaders meet online to discuss key security issues facing the world.

The list of speakers includes German Chancellor Angela Merkel, US President Joe Biden, UN Secretary-General Anotonio Guterres, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and French President Emannuel Macron among others.

Biden, Merkel and Macron appeared together. Biden use his time to affirmt he importance of the transatlantic partnership.

"I speak today as president of the United States and I'm sending a clear message to the world: America is back," Biden told the conference. "The transatlantic alliance is back."

"Let me erase any lingering doubt, the US will work closely with our EU partners," he said, but also welcomed the EU's "growing investment in military capabilities."

Time to look for hope

MSC Chairman Wolfgang Ischinger spoke during the opening of the conference. "Today we find that Europe is surrounded by a ring of fire," he told the online audience.

"Great power competition has made a serious comeback. The rules based international order … is under attack."

He referred to the topic of the previous year's conference: "Westlessness," the idea that the the world and in particular the West, was getting "less rules-based, less value-driven."

The past 12 months seemed to have confirmed this warning, he said, but Ischinger posed a new message of hope, "beyond Westlessness."

"Today let's focus on the hopes, going forward… How can we rebuild the trans-Atlantic partnership?"

Call for global multilateral cooperation

The Secretary-General of the UN Antonio Guterres laid out a series of problems facing the world, including the coronavirus pandemic, but also climate catastrophe, inequality, a pushback against women's rights, and the erosion of the nuclear armaments agreement, "2021 must be the year to get back on track."

He called for a global vaccination plan to tackle COVID-19 — meaning that major powers share their oversupply of vaccines as well as the sharing of licenses and technology.

He warned that a failure to vaccinate the whole world may lead to new mutations which come back to haunt the counries that manage to vaccinate their populations first.

His second priority was to reach net zero carbon emissions. "More than 70% of the world economy has committed to net zero greenhouse emissions by 2050. Let's expand this coalition to 90%," the UN chief said.

Thirdly he urged an easing in geopolitical tensions, a necessary step for solving the issues the whole world is facing. "We cannot solve the biggest problems when the biggest powers are at odds."

Guterres also called for a ceasefire, not just in the traditional sense, but also in domestic arenas, highlighting the issues of violence against women.

Bill Gates: Reduce vaccine inequity

Bill Gates also spoke, a year after he warned the conference of the threat of global pandemics. He called it a "tragedy" that the world had not prepared itself properly before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

He laid out a plan to invest in capacities for research and manufacture of vaccines and drugs to battle not only COVID-19, but other common infections.

"We have to be thankful to Germany who's led the calls for this COVAX," Gates said, in reference to the global shared vaccine procurement program aimed at providing jabs for low- and middle-income countries.

He believed that with current production and investment, vaccinations in the developing world would be six to eight months behind the richer countries.

Ghebreyesus: We are succeeding against COVID

The Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Ahanom Ghebreyesus reminded the audience of his warnings of coronavirus from a year ago, but focused on the need to ensure global vaccination equity.

The WHO tweeted parts of his speech, including his remarks of how the COVID-19 pandemic "is an uneven pandemic.".

The WHO chief gave three demands in order to fully realize the power of the global vaccination drive: funding and donations of doses to COVAX, full vaccination information from the manufacturers and for people to call for vaccine equity.

"The longer it takes to suppress the virus everywhere, the more opportunity it has to change in ways that could make vaccines less effective… we could end up back at square one," he warned.

He considered the global battle against COVID-19 to be succeeding, but in regards to the tools we now have to fend off the virus, Ghebreyesus said: "We must make sure we use those tools effectively, which means using them in all countries to protect the most at risk groups."

But he also warned viewers and participants of the dangers of not uniting. "Please don't politicize this virus," he said.

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