The leaders of the G20 countries want to strengthen the global health architecture “with the leading and coordination role of WHO and support from other international organisations”, as they confirmed in their final declaration, adopted on Wednesday 16 November in Bali (Indonesia).
Asserting that “the Covid-19 pandemic is not over” and citing monkeypox, which WHO a public health emergency of international concern, they stress that “international health threats are ever present”. With this in mind, they support the ongoing negotiation of the future international agreement, convention or treaty for the prevention, preparedness and response to future pandemics, due to be adopted in May 2024 (see EUROPE 13044/23).
The final declaration speaks of “a legally binding instrument that should contain both legally binding and non-legally binding elements”.
The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, recalled that he and WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus put forward the proposal two years ago for a “treaty on pandemics”. He believes “this is a concrete demonstration of great multilateralism anchored in solidarity, transparency and global coordination”.
As a reminder, the EU intends to continue to position itself as a leader in global health governance, with WHO at its centre (see EUROPE 13052/23).
See the final G20 declaration: https://aeur.eu/f/43 (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)