Geneva: Countries trying to scrap a global agreement to deal with future pandemics hope to reach a deal on Friday after weeks of wrangling talks.
After several previous deadlines, the difficult situation of the annual meeting of the 194 member countries of the World Health Organization is now clear.
Fearing the devastation of Covid-19, which has left millions dead, devastated economies and crippled health systems, WHO member states have spent two years implementing pandemic prevention, preparedness and response commitments.
The bureau leading the negotiations must report to the World Health Assembly – WHO’s highest decision-making body – whether the assembly has a final text to consider.
In recent weeks, hand-wringing, horse-trading, and 3:00 a.m. have replaced the negotiations.
However, there is still a lot of ground left to cover, and cracking the remaining logs at the end of the day seems like a long shot.
Even if we do not reach a conclusion, it makes sense that we will reach the World Health Assembly with something short,” an ambassador told AFP. . .
Negotiations were held behind closed doors at WHO headquarters in Geneva.
A source in the room said the negotiators were optimistic they could see a target and a way to get there.
But after the lecture outside the hall, the civil society group did not seem positive.
“They are negotiating, they are fighting passionately to reach a quick conclusion, but it doesn’t happen,” Third World Network Senior Researcher KM Gopakumar told AFP.
He said countries would be under pressure to negotiate, with little chance of a successful conclusion in time.
Others may choose to present the country with a framework agreement and an outline agreement in principle.
The Assembly can then call for this process to be carried out at the end of the year.
The draft agreement was not made public, but on Thursday, a preview seen by AFP showed that a large part had been agreed.
In recent days, developing text fragments have been highlighted in yellow, the wording agreed in small working groups and then highlighted in green after being approved by all countries.
The 32-page draft includes 34 articles, 12 fully green and 18 partially green. Almost all the other four are yellow.
Gopakumar said this week that the negotiators had “greenlit a number of non-contentious areas” but “there is no agreement on any contentious issues”.
Key debates revolve around issues of access and equity: access to identified pathogens in countries and access to pandemic products such as vaccines derived from that knowledge.
Other challenging topics are sustainable financing, pathogen control, supply chains, and ways to produce more than just tests, treatments, and containers.
Ellen t Hoen, a lawyer for the Medical Law and Public Policy Association, said that negotiations on the wording of the text only began in the final stages of negotiations.
“The ambition to do this in two years could be the fastest UN agreement ever,” he said.
The co-chair of the lecture, Kimmat Matsoso, admitted in the final round that “the more we move into the meeting, the more confusing it is.”
“The challenge is to achieve as much as possible,” said co-chairman Roland Dries.
“If it’s not harmonious, it won’t work”.
World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called on negotiators this week to give “the biggest push to get through that line”.
He also called on countries to step back so as not to disrupt the consensus needed to reach an agreement.
But on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken played down hopes of a deal, saying it was “highly unlikely” a deal would be reached this week.
Still, Washington said, he’s trying to say “we’ll be better prepared next time.”
