WHO 152nd Session of the Executive Board - Item 25.1 - Appointment of the Regional Director for the Americas - EU Statement

Chair,

Director-General,

Excellencies,

Colleagues,

This statement is made on behalf of the EU and its Member States.

The candidate countries Türkiye, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, Ukraine, Republic of Moldova and Bosnia and Herzegovina[*] and the potential candidate country Georgia align themselves with this statement.

We would like to thank the leaving Regional Director Dr Carissa Etienne for her tireless efforts and good cooperation with Member States, the Governing Bodies and the Secretariat in Geneva and wish her all the best for the future.

We now welcome Dr. Jarbas Barbosa Da Silva Jr. as new Regional Director for the Americas. We congratulate Dr. Jarbas Barbosa Da Silva on your election and wish you, steadfastness, patience and success in meeting the challenges of the future.

These challenges affect all regions, but with varying degrees of force. In addition to pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, the nexus of the environment and health as well as the important disease burden attributable to noncommunicable diseases seems to be another example to pay special attention to. We are very interested in getting to know his (your) priorities for the next years.

We wish you a good start and hope to continue working closely with you personally and the countries in your region.

Thank you.

[*] North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.