Devex: Opinion: Urgent international priorities for the next U.S. president
Melissa Leach, director of the Institute of Development Studies, fellow of the British Academy, co-founder of the ESRC STEPS Centre, and member of the WHO Social Science Expert Group and British Academy COVID-19 steering group

“With the outcome of the presidential election between Donald Trump and Joe Biden imminent, the results will be critical, not only to the population of the United States but for the world at large. A change of president has the potential to transform the leadership and international cooperation needed at a crucial juncture for international development — with only 10 years to meet the Sustainable Development Goals and with the shared global challenges of COVID-19, climate and environmental change, poverty, inequality, and injustice. … This is the time for the U.S. to show leadership in investing USAID not only in urgent aid relief but also in long-term development and the research and evidence needed to tackle the most pressing global challenges and help meet the SDG targets at home and abroad. … From issues of ensuring the fair distribution of treatments and vaccines for COVID-19 through WHO, to tax reform of dominant U.S. tech companies through the G20/OECD Inclusive Framework, to … climate and sustainable development challenges … there are plenty of opportunities for it to do so. And it has never been so urgently needed” (11/2).