[Title] WHO Director-General's opening remarks at the Resumed twelfth meeting of the International Negotiating Body on a WHO Pandemic Agreement

Our Co-Chairs, Precious and Anne-Claire,

Our Vice-Chairs, Ambassador Tovar, Ambassador Ramadan, Dr Viroj and Ms Davis,

Excellencies, dear colleagues and friends,

Good morning, and welcome back to WHO.

Yesterday marked exactly three years since you adopted the landmark decision "the World Together" that launched this process.

Since then, I've spoken to you multiple times. I'm not sure there's anything new that I can say.

You know your task, and you know what is at stake.

You should be proud of what you have achieved in the past three years – and you should also be confident that the end is in sight. It's closer than you think.

And you should also remember what you have already achieved this year, by adopting a package of amendments to the International Health Regulations.

As I have said repeatedly, for the Pandemic Agreement to be meaningful you need provisions for strong prevention, for continued preparedness and for robust, resilient and equitable response.

An imbalanced Pandemic Agreement is not an agreement.

Once again, I urge you to be guided by public health. I cannot emphasize this enough: convergence on outstanding issues is possible if you maintain your focus on public health.

Thank you all for your ongoing commitment to this process. As always, the Secretariat stands ready to support you in any way we can.