Leaders of 23 countries and the World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday supported
an idea to create an international treaty for health emergencies.
The treaty would strengthen rules on sharing information.
The idea of such a treaty was first suggested by President of the European Council
Charles Michel at a meeting of the Group of 20 major economic powers last November.
The treaty would try to ensure that every country would have an equal ability
to get vaccines, medicine and needed equipment for widespread health crises.
Diplomats say WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has agreed with the idea,
but official talks have not begun. Tedros told a news conference on Tuesday that a treaty
would solve the problems that many countries experienced after COVID-19 first appeared.
He said the first written attempt at a resolution on negotiations could be presented to
the WHO's 194 member states at their yearly meeting in May. On Tuesday, the treaty
proposal got the support of the leaders of Fiji, Portugal, Romania, Britain, Rwanda,
Kenya, France, Germany, Greece, South Korea, Chile, Costa Rica, Albania and South Africa.
Leaders of Trinidad and Tobago, the Netherlands, Tunisia, Senegal, Spain, Norway, Serbia,
Indonesia, Ukraine and the WHO itself also offered their support." There will be other
pandemics and other major health emergencies.
No single government or multilateral agency and address this threat alone," the leaders
wrote in a joint statement in several large newspapers. "We believe that nations should
work together towards a new international treaty for pandemic preparedness
and response," it said.
The leaders of China and the United States did not sign the statement. However,
Tedros said both countries had been supportive of the idea of a treaty.
He also said all countries would be represented in talks. The treaty would work with the
WHO's International Health Regulations. They are rules that have been in force since 2005.
Nations would work together to control suppliers, share virus samples, research and
development, the WHO's assistant director said.