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Monday, 6 July 2026 WHO Director-General's opening remarks at the Seventh meeting of the Intergovernmental Working Group (IGWG) on the WHO Pandemic Agreement – 6 July 2026Co-Chairs, Your Excellency Ambassador Tovar and Mr Matthew Harpur, Vice-Chairs, Your Excellency Ambassador Dlamini, Dr Hanan, Dr Viroj and Ms Heyward, Honourable Members of the IGWG, Our valued partners, Excellencies, dear colleagues and friends, Welcome back. It’s good to see you all again. Let me be honest with you, as I always try to be. We had all hoped, all of us, that negotiations on the PABS annex would be complete in time for adoption at this year’s World Health Assembly. That didn’t happen. But that’s not what matters now. But here is what matters: you are here today. And you are ready to keep going. You could have given up. You could have said this is too hard, that we will never agree. You didn’t. You said: we will keep going, because what’s at stake is too important to abandon. You said: we don’t agree yet, but we believe we can. And we believe we will. So do I. I believe in you. Your presence here today, after so many long hours and so much hard work, tells the world something important: that despite everything, multilateralism is alive. It is not a relic of the past. You are proving, with your patience and your persistence, that cooperation is still possible. That dialogue is still possible. That compromise is still possible. And – in time, I believe – consensus is still possible too. I know how hard you have worked in informal discussions these past few weeks. I’ve heard that those conversations were frank, and honest, and that they brought you closer to understanding one another. That matters more than people often realise. I ask you to hold onto that spirit this week. Carry it with you into every room, every conversation, every difficult moment. And please, keep the destination in sight: A future in which pathogen samples and information move quickly, without needless delay; And in which the benefits that come from them reach the people who need them most, fairly and in time. I won’t pretend the final stretch will be easy. It won’t be. The differences that remain are real. They matter to the people you represent, and I respect that. But they are not impossible to bridge. I don’t believe that, and I don’t think you do either. So I ask you: focus on what truly matters. Don’t let the urgency fade. Please, use this time as if it were precious – because it is. As I keep saying, and as I will keep saying until it’s no longer true: the next pandemic will not wait for us to be ready. The Ebola outbreak still unfolding in the DRC right now is proof of that. It is not some distant, hypothetical scenario in a briefing document. It is happening. Ebola may not be the next pandemic. But it is a reminder, a painful one, that the threat never truly goes away. And only four days ago, WHO declared the end of the hantavirus outbreak linked to a cruise ship earlier this year. It was contained because people worked together quickly and without hesitation. But it, too, is a reminder: danger can emerge from anywhere, at any time, in ways we don’t always expect. Every month that this Annex remains unfinished is a month the world stays less prepared than it could be. It is people – real people, real families – left less safe than they deserve to be. So please. Let’s get this done. Not for an institution, not for a process, but for them. I ask all of you to walk into these next two weeks with trust in each other, with understanding, and with the flexibility to meet each other partway. My colleagues and I are here for you. Whatever support you need to reach this goal, we will provide it. I wish you every success in your negotiations over the coming two weeks. 
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