Dr Ashley Bloomfield,
Dr Abdullah Assiri,
Dr Precious Matsoso,
Roland Driece
Dear colleagues and friends,
I have lost my voice, but it’s a small price to pay. Because tonight, we have all won. The world has won.
I offer you all my warmest congratulations, my sincerest admiration and my deepest gratitude.
You have made history here today, in approving a strong package of amendments to the International Health Regulations.
You have strengthened the cornerstone of international health law.
And in doing so, you have made the world safer.
I have always believed that both the IHR amendments and the Pandemic Agreement could be finalized for this Health Assembly.
IHR – tick.
The Pandemic Agreement is not done yet – but I have no doubt it will be. You have charted a clear path forward, and you have demonstrated your clear commitment to finalizing it.
The success of the IHR Working Group should give the INB confidence that you can get this done, and you will.
The timeframe that you set yourselves was extremely ambitious, and rightly so.
Thank you all for your hard work working late into the night – the record was 4:18 am – which shows your strong commitment.
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither is international law.
It was seven years between when the World Health Assembly adopted a resolution calling for a framework convention on tobacco control, and when it adopted the FCTC.
So even if it takes another year to finalize the Pandemic Agreement – and I don’t believe you will need that long – you will still have achieved a lot in a very short time.
So we will get to have two parties – one today for the IHR, and another one sometime in the next year when you finalize the Pandemic Agreement.
I offer my profound thanks to our four co-chairs, Ashley, Abdullah, Precious and Roland,
And also to my colleagues in the Secretariat: Mike, Jaouad, Steve, Andrea, Claudia, Roberta, Anne, Olla, Kenneth, Paida, Bruno – and the many other staff who supported the processes.
Both of these processes – the INB and the IHR – are a historic achievement for you, and a gift for our children and grandchildren.
My granddaughter is learning ballet, and tomorrow I have a ticket for a performance in which she is dancing. I almost feel like dancing myself. Almost.
But I will be celebrating with her, that she and her friends, and their children and grandchildren have a safer future because of what you did today.
Thank you.
