Dozens of leading experts appealed to greater solidarity and cooperation among the international community in the fight against the COVID-19 epidemic, and discussed how to advance global cooperation against COVID-19, at a subforum of the Global Think Tanks Online Forum on International Cooperation to Combat COVID-19 on Wednesday.

Jemal Putkaradze, ministerial advisor to the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia and director of the CASS-GTU Research Institute of China Studies, said he thought the most effective way to deal with such a crisis is through global solidarity.

"The world community must work together to create a mechanism to protect health and the world economy that will stand the test of time and space, and create a bright future for us," he said.

The common mechanism proposed by Jemal Putkaradze was also noted in a speech delivered by Essam Sharaf, former prime minister of Egypt.

Sharaf pointed out that a global orchestrated mechanism should be created to handle a world health crisis, and highlighted the significant role of the Belt and Road Initiative in this joint global mechanism.

"BRI is and can always be a major vector for health cooperation, and enhancing global public health governance as well," he said.

Referring to the global effort in combating COVID-19, Branislav Djordjevic, director of the Institute of International Politics and Economics in Belgrade, Serbia, noted the invention of a successful vaccine is the only guarantee people around the world may get back to where they were before the virus.

"The primary task of all governments is to support scientists and the entire R&D sector in testing vaccines, which is necessary in order to continue normal life," Djordjevic said at the forum "this year is the year of caring for people and securing the future for mankind."