WHO will hold a special session to analyze the international pandemic treaty promoted by Chile

This Monday, in the framework of the commitments adopted on March 30, when President Sebastián Piñera along with 26 other world leaders signed a call to the international community to begin the negotiation process to sign a treaty on pandemics, Chile led a presentation of a proposed decision before the 74th World Health Assembly, convened by the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, Switzerland.

The proposal contemplates the formal request calling the Director-General of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom, to convene a Special Session of the World Health Assembly, in November 2021, to consider the benefits of an international instrument on pandemics, seeking to initiate thus a process conducive to sign said agreement.

"One of the lessons from this pandemic is that the world needs a legally binding tool to combat similar events in the future. Since last year, Chile has been promoting this idea in various international instances and we are already beginning to see progress," said Foreign Minister Andrés Allamand.

It should be remembered that, for a year, Chile called on all countries to initiate discussions on the possibility of adopting an international instrument on pandemics. Since then, our country has worked to promote this initiative, globally.

The proposal was made by Chile joined by  25 countries and co-sponsored by more than 60 States.