Minister of Foreign Affairs, Migration and Tunisians Abroad, Nabil Ammar, commended the “excellent cooperation between Tunisia and the World Health Organization (WHO), particularly through the organisation’s office in Tunis.”
FM Nabil Ammar was speaking when he met with WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on December 11, as part of his working visit to Geneva, according to a ministry statement.
While reaffirming Tunisia’s commitment to the Group of Friends of the Treaty for the Development of an International Instrument on Pandemic Preparedness and Response, the Minister underlined the relevance of the call by President Kais Saied and 25 other world leaders to strengthen the global health architecture through an international treaty on pandemics.
He reiterated his gratitude to the Director-General for the special priority given to the implementation of the mRNA technology transfer process to the six selected African countries, including Tunisia, launched on the occasion of the EU-AU Summit on
February 18.
He also thanked the Director-General for his active participation in the event entitled “Francophone exchange on progress in mRNA vaccine production: focus on the experience of 4 French-speaking beneficiary countries”. The latter will be organised in Geneva in October 2023, in collaboration with the WHO and the OIF, as part of the follow-up to the provisions of the Djerba Declaration on equitable access to health care.
The Minister also thanked the Director-General for WHO’s efforts in Gaza to save the sick and wounded Palestinians suffering from an unprecedented humanitarian and health disaster.
FM Nabil Ammar underlined Tunisia’s repeated calls at the highest level of the State for an approach based on international solidarity, equity and multilateralism to face the COVID-19 pandemic together, as evidenced by the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 2532 in July 2020.
For his part, the WHO Director-General thanked the President of the Republic, Kais Saied, for his role in launching th
e process of negotiating a new treaty on pandemics. He also underlined Tunisia’s role in the international community’s efforts to strengthen the global health architecture to ensure a rapid, effective and sustainable response to future pandemics.
Tedros took the opportunity to reiterate his call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and unhindered humanitarian access to the Palestinian people.
Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse