Five EU member states on Saturday called for a summit meeting on the “fair distribution” of vaccines developed for the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Leaders of Austria, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Slovenia and Latvia sent a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel, requesting a meeting on vaccine distribution throughout the bloc.

In the letter published by the Austrian media, they asked that deliveries of doses by pharmaceutical companies to EU member states be fulfilled on an equal basis following the pro-rata population key.

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz in a Twitter post on Friday questioned the issue of equal distribution of vaccines, adding that the “last few weeks have shown that deliveries are currently not being made according to population keys and that this is set to intensify in the coming months.”

“If the distribution were to continue in this way, it would result in significant unequal treatment – which we must prevent. All 450 million Europeans must be given the chance to return to normality by the summer,” he said.

On Saturday, Kurz also announced on Twitter that the letter was sent to top EU authorities by the leaders of five states.

Meanwhile, an EU official confirmed that the bloc was already planning a summit set for March 25 and 26, noting that the COVID-19 coordination will again be addressed by the 27 members during that meeting.

ALLOCATION OF DOSES

In a written statement, the European Commission said the allocation of doses under the Advance Purchase Agreements has followed a “transparent process.”

The EU signed the Advance Purchase Agreements with six vaccine producers — Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca, CureVac, Johnson & Johnson, and Sanofi/GlaxoSmithKline — to purchase 2.6 billion vaccine doses.

“The Commission agrees with recent statements by several Member States that the most equitable solution for the allocation of doses of vaccines is on the basis of a pro-rata of population of each Member State. This is the solution that the Commission proposed for all Advance Purchase Agreements. It is a fair solution as the virus strikes equally everywhere, in all parts of the EU,” said the statement.

“Member States decided to depart from the Commission’s proposal by adding a flexibility which allows agreeing on a different distribution of doses, taking into account the epidemiological situation and the vaccination needs of each country. Under this system, if a Member State decides not to take up its pro-rata allocation, the doses are redistributed among the other interested Member States,” it added.

The statement also underlined that a pro-rata basis distribution again depends on the decision of EU members.

Pakistan-Uzbekistan relations are moving on a positive trajectory. Initiatives taken by the two sides are not only strengthening bilateral cooperation but also contributing immensely for regional peace and stability. Patricianly, the planned Uzbekistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan connectivity through roads and railway set the stage for greater regional cooperation between Central and South Asia.

These views were expressed in an international webinar titled “Pakistan-Uzbekistan Relations: Emerging Bilateral and Regional Dynamics” organized jointly by the Eurasian Century Institute (ECI), Islamabad and Centre for International Relations Studies (CIRS), Tashkent.

The webinar noted that the visit of Uzbek Foreign Minister Dr Abdulaziz Kamilov to Pakistan on March 9 and 10 was highly successful, taking the ties between the two countries further higher. The trip, in continuation of high level exchanges between the top leadership of the two countries witnessed in recent times, helped in further intensifying the atmosphere of cordiality and pushed the moves for bilateral and regional cooperation.

Speakers included Amb. Kurbanov Doniyor Javdatovic, head of CIRS, Dr. Talat Shabbir. Director of China Pakistan Study Centre, ISSI; Khasan Majidov, CERR; Dr. Sheharyar Khan, Iqra University; Akram Umarov, senior researcher; Dr. Sarwat Rauf, National University of Modren Languages; Yunusova Zilola Bakhodirovna,  CIRS and Irfan Shahzad Takalvi, founding head of ECI.

Webinar participants noted that already built and planned Uzbekistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan connectivity initiatives particularly the railway linkage agreed upon by the three countries would usher the two regions of Central and South Asia into a new era of commercial cooperation and people-to-people contact. This connectivity would help the three partner countries and other players in the region to optimally utilize potential for collaboration in economic, developmental, social and people-to-people spheres.

However, the participants noted, that peace and stability not only in Afghanistan – for which the chances are seemingly brightening – but also on both sides of Pak-Afghan border would be crucial for any lasting connectivity and cooperation between Uzbekistan and Pakistan and between south and central Asia.

The webinar suggested that relevant stakeholders of Pakistan and Uzbekistan should work to identify projects of practical commercial cooperation in areas of mutual comparative advantage

The acting leader of Myanmar’s parallel civilian government said it will seek to give people the legal right to defend themselves as the death toll in protests against last month’s coup exceeded 80, according to an advocacy group.

Mahn Win Khaing Than, who is on the run along with most senior officials from the ruling National League for Democracy Party, addressed the public via Facebook, saying, “This is the darkest moment of the nation and the moment that the dawn is close”.He said the civilian government would “attempt to legislate the required laws so that the people have the right to defend themselves” against the military crackdown.

More than 80 people had been killed as of Saturday in widespread protests against the military’s seizure of power, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners advocacy group said. Over 2,100 people have been arrested, it said.

At least 13 people were killed on Saturday, one of the bloodiest days since the Feb. 1 coup, witnesses and domestic media said.

Five people were shot dead and several injured when police opened fire on a sit-in protest in Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-biggest city, witnesses told Reuters.

Two people were killed in the central town of Pyay and two died in police firing in the commercial capital Yangon, where three were also killed overnight, domestic media reported.

“They are acting like they are in a war zone, with unarmed people,” said Mandalay-based activist Myat Thu. He said the dead included a 13-year-old child.

Si Thu Tun, another protester, said he saw two people shot, including a Buddhist monk. “One of them was hit in the pubic bone, another was shot to death terribly,” he said.

A truck driver in Chauk, a town in the central Magwe Region, died after being shot in the chest by police, a family friend said.

A spokesman for the junta did not answer phone calls from Reuters seeking comment. Junta-run media MRTV’s evening news broadcast labelled the protesters “criminals” but did not elaborate.