Distinguished delegates, dear colleagues,
Welcome to IGWG nine (IGWG9).
Let me begin by thanking Ambassador Tovar of Brazil, and Vice-Chairs Ambassador Dlamini of Eswatini, Dr Al-Mandhari of Oman and Dr Viroj of Thailand, for their steadfast leadership.
I am also very pleased to welcome Ambassador Anne-Claire Amprou of France to the Bureau.
We now have an almost complete Bureau, and I strongly urge Member States of the Western Pacific Region to put forward a nominee to complete this important leadership team.
Over the past few months, I have carried one message to every WHO Regional Committee: let us finish the job.
Member States made history when you adopted the WHO Pandemic Agreement.
Now we must complete the PABS Annex so that the Agreement can enter into force.
And there is strong political support, as Ambassador Tovar said earlier, for you to do it.
Just a few weeks ago, the United Nations General Assembly adopted its Political Declaration on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.
Heads of State and Government welcomed the Pandemic Agreement and called for the PABS negotiations to be concluded.
But ultimately, the reason for finishing this work is not legal or procedural. It is about protecting people.
Because a pathogen threat anywhere can become a threat everywhere – to the people of every country.
The outbreak of hantavirus earlier this year, and the ongoing Ebola epidemic in DRC remind us of this threat.
No country can protect itself from pandemics by acting alone.
That is the overarching lesson of the COVID-19 pandemic.
COVID-19 taught us what happens when pathogen sharing and access to lifesaving tools are not connected.
The world developed vaccines in record time, but too many countries were left waiting while others secured far more than they needed.
That inequity cost lives, prolonged the pandemic and increased the risk of new variants emerging.
In response to COVID-19, we have taken together steps to strengthen every dimension of global health security:
To strengthen national capacities, the Pandemic Fund and the Universal Health and Preparedness Review;
To strengthen surveillance and early warning, the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence in Germany;
To improve equitable access to vaccines and other tools, the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator and COVAX; the interim Medical Countermeasures Network; the mRNA Technology Transfer Programme in South Africa, and the Global Biomanufacturing Training Hub in the Republic of Korea;
And we worked with CEPI to accelerate the development of vaccines for the current Ebola outbreak.
To encourage international sharing of pathogen samples, the WHO BioHub in Switzerland.
And to strengthen international response capacity, the Global Health Emergency Corps.
In 2024, Member States adopted changes to the International Health Regulations, and last year you adopted the Pandemic Agreement.
PABS is the last remaining piece of our puzzle. It will complete the picture and bring all of the other pieces I listed into an operational whole.
It’s our opportunity to build a system based on transparency, predictability, mutual responsibility, mutual benefit – and trust.
PABS is more than a piece of a puzzle – it is the key that will unlock the door to a safer future, by enabling all the initiatives that I outlined.
It’s a key that we can only develop together, and it’s a door that we can only walk through together.
Multilateralism, of course, is not easy, but it’s the only way, and the best way.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: multilateralism and sovereignty are not mutually exclusive, they’re mutually reinforcing.
You are here in your capacity as representatives of sovereign states, who recognize the need to work together to find a shared solution to a shared threat.
If you do that – when you do that – you will create something durable, that will keep humanity safer for generations to come.
I have been encouraged by the constructive spirit of the informal meetings, and I thank the co-facilitators, the Bureau and all delegates for the hard work that has brought us to this point.
I urge you to bring that same spirit to these negotiations.
Of course, there are difficult issues still to resolve. But you do not need to design a perfect system for all time.
You need to agree on a system that works, that delivers equity, and that can be strengthened as we learn from experience.
So as IGWG9 begins, I have three asks.
First, negotiate with the intention and expectation of concluding.
Of course, nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. But every delegation should come ready to find solutions.
Second, distinguish between what is essential and what is desirable.
Be clear about what you cannot accept, and be prepared to show flexibility on the rest.
Third, keep public health as your North Star.
The test of this Annex is whether it will help the world respond faster and more equitably when the next pandemic threat emerges.
You have my full support, and the full support of the Secretariat.
The world is looking to you to finish what you began.
I wish you a productive two weeks.
Thank you.