UK opening intervention at the 7th Intergovernmental Negotiating
Body. Delivered by the UK's Ambassador to the WTO and UN, , on 6 November 2023.
Like my German colleagues and Indonesia mentioned it – let me
underscore our solidarity with the state and people of Israel
following the horrific Hamas terrorist attack of 7 October.
Israel has every right to act in self-defence under international
law and in accordance with International Humanitarian Law, and we
have doubled aid to Gaza this year, providing another GBP 30
million in humanitarian aid, and have called for a humanitarian
pause.
Nearly two years have passed since the World Health Assembly’s
historic decision to negotiate a new Pandemic Accord.
The global community has since reaffirmed its commitment to
protect future generations from pandemic threats through the
adoption of the first Political Declaration on Pandemic
Prevention, Preparedness and Response at this year’s UN General
Assembly.
However, the commitments in the declaration will not be enough to
secure our collective health, security and prosperity in the face
of future pandemic threats.
That is why the UK remains firmly committed to working with
others to negotiate a legally binding Pandemic Accord, while
respecting Member States’ sovereign right to make domestic
decisions on national public health matters.
I would like to thank the Bureau and Secretariat for their huge
efforts to prepare the Negotiating Text, which should be used as
the basis for negotiations.
There are areas of the text the UK strongly supports and wants to
strengthen further, such as on research and development, health
systems, AMR, and prevention. We should aspire to a world in
which most of this agreement is never needed, because we can
prevent pandemic threats before they take hold.
There are also measures that the UK could not accept, such as
waivers of intellectual property rights. Speaking as one of those
Geneva Ambassadors who cover both the UN and the World Trade
Organization, I need to reaffirm the UK’s conviction that the
World Trade Organization is the appropriate forum to discuss
obligations on IP.
I would also stress that the UK recognises that we need to
facilitate equitable access to safe, effective, quality-assured
and affordable vaccines, therapeutics, diagnostics, and other
medical countermeasures, especially in developing countries.
It is vital that the Accord leads to concrete improvements in our
ability to tackle pandemic threats. We firmly believe we need
more input in this process from civil society, the private sector
and other experts who can help us to ensure that the Accord works
for our citizens in practice.
Colleagues, we have six months left. All Member States will have
priorities they want to see better reflected in the text and
concerns about its feasibility. Achieving the step-change in the
negotiation which we need in order to meet our deadline will only
be possible if we begin text negotiations now, on the basis of
the draft in front of us.
Let’s ensure that, by May 2024, we have an agreement that
delivers on the vital mission the World Health Assembly set: to
stand together to tackle the threat of pandemics, rather than
apart.
