Second session of the Intergovernmental Working Group on Revision of the International Health Regulations
Ladies and gentlemen,
A warm welcome to this second session of the Intergovernmental Working Group on Revision of the International Health Regulations. You achieved a great deal in the first one, in November, and now the time has come to bring your work to completion.
You will not just be starting from where you left off three months ago. Some of the issues you were grappling with then have been further discussed and clarified during the last three months.
I would like particularly to mention the excellent work done
- by our Chairman, Ambassador Whelan, on preparing the new and carefully considered draft; by our Special Envoy, Commissioner Byrne, on taking the discussions forward with some of our key Member States;
- by the Bureau of this Working Group, which has met five times since November to prepare this session;
- by several Regional groups who have already met to discuss the Chair's proposals;
- by an expert group who have made constructive recommendations on how to present the list of diseases in Annex 2;
- and, by another expert group who have met to work out the practical implications of the proposals for international transport operations.
All of this has put you, as the Intergovernmental Working Group, in a strong position to complete the negotiations this week.
Every Member State we have heard from wants this to happen, so that the revisions can be adopted by the World Health Assembly this May. We have to have the International Health Regulations in place if we are to make an adequate international response to public health events such as avian influenza and other potential outbreaks.
There is already a strong consensus on the main directions to be taken by the proposed revisions. I have four pieces of advice on how to build on this consensus and let it take hold in specific regulations:
- Search for compromise rather than holding out over details.
- Be flexible about working arrangements so you can get the most out of the limited time available.
- Don't resubmit proposals that are already included in the papers from the last session.
- Only propose amendments that can command wide acceptance.
In addition to very strong international support, please bear in mind that you have many other factors working in your favour this week. For instance, you have a clear target for success, well-prepared delegations, an enthusiastic Bureau and an expert Chairman.
I urge you to make the most of all these advantages, so that we can attain the objective that has brought us together here today - a set of Regulations that will make the world safer and healthier for everyone.
Thank you.