WHO - EB 150 - EU Statement: Item 3 Outcome of the Second special session of the World Health Assembly

Mr. Director General,

Mr. President,

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

The Candidate Countries Turkey, the Republic of North Macedonia[1], Montenegro[1], and Albania[1], the country of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidate Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and Georgia align themselves with this statement.

Since the end of 2020, the EU has been advocating for a strong universal Pandemic Treaty. The Second Special Session of the WHA marked a historic step towards this direction.

We would like to thank the Bureau of the WGPR for its patient work in achieving this first tangible result. We fully endorse the way forward laid out by the WGPR in its report, and thank the Secretariat for the ongoing support it is providing to the WGPR’s work. We also take this opportunity to reiterate our confidence in the ability of the Bureau to guide Member States in the coming months. The shared goal is now to address and act on other recommendations made by the IPPPR, the IOAC, the IHR Review Committee and the GPMB.

We welcome once again the spirit of compromise that allowed the adoption of the decision establishing an Intergovernmental Negotiating Body to prepare a working draft and negotiate the text of the future instrument. We are convinced that a Pandemic Treaty would be a crucial step towards strengthening prevention, preparedness and response to pandemic threats. It will be the common roof under which all Member States and relevant organizations think and organize multisectoral pandemic preparedness and response, complementing the IHR. We believe it should be an instrument addressing gaps for better global prevention, preparedness and response.

In concrete terms, this Treaty will hopefully lead to a formal recognition of the “One health approach” to better prevent, detect and control emerging pathogens. It will seal a commitment by Member States to increase their investments in prevention and preparedness. The Treaty should also facilitate data and pathogen sharing, promote equitable access to medical countermeasures and enshrine predictable mechanisms for a united global response to the next pandemic. Last but certainly not least, we will strive to make the Pandemic Treaty a tool for better coordination within the UN system, between WHO and other health agencies, and among Member States, with the WHO leading and coordinating international health work,

The EU and its Member States look forward to the establishment of the INB, to its first meeting in February, and the working draft to be developed and submitted before the second meeting this summer. We are delighted to announce that the Director of International Affairs of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be one of the members of the INB Bureau and we take this opportunity to thank all the countries of the EURO region for the confidence they have shown in him.

[1] The Republic of North Macedonia, Montenegro and Albania continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.