Honourable Ministers, Excellencies, dear colleagues and friends,

Good morning, good afternoon and good evening to all Member States, and thank you all for joining us once again.

At the 150th Session of the Executive Board in January this year, I informed Member States that in late 2021, the Secretariat had become aware of allegations regarding the Regional Director for the Western Pacific, and I committed to keeping Member States updated.

Since then, due process has been followed. The office of Internal Oversight Services has undertaken an investigation and submitted a report, which we forwarded to the Global Advisory Committee, which has considered it.

The process has now entered a new phase.

The need for confidentiality in our rules means I cannot go into more detail in this forum, but last week I briefed the officers of the Regional Committee for the Western Pacific, the Chair of the Executive Board, Dr Vesna Petri?, and the Chair of the Independent Expert Oversight Advisory Committee, Chris Mihm.

Earlier this morning, I briefed the Member States of the Western Pacific region. I have also briefed the Regional Office management committee, and the leadership of the WPRO Staff Association.

The Regional Director is currently on leave. I have appointed Deputy Director-General Dr Zsuzsanna Jakab as officer-in-charge for the Western Pacific Regional Office, to ensure business continuity. Dr Jakab arrived in Manila last Tuesday of this week and has started work.

I assure Member States that we will continue to follow due process, and that I will continue to keep you updated.

===

Now to our agenda today.

As you know, in May this year we published a white paper with 10 key proposals for strengthening the global architecture for health emergency preparedness, response and resilience.

One of those recommendations was to create a new Financial Intermediary Fund, the FIF, to provide catalytic and gap-filling funding.

We first briefed Member States on the FIF at the beginning of August, but there have been significant developments since then.

Next week, on the 8th and 9th of September, the FIF board will meet for the first time, to consider the governance framework and the operations manual.

These are both in the draft stage, so your input is important to inform the board's discussions.

We thank those Member States who have been deeply engaged in the process of establishing the FIF.

In particular, I thank Indonesia and Italy for their leadership in moving the FIF forward under their G20 presidencies.

I also thank the donors to the FIF, who have already pledged more than US$ 1.3 billion. Investing in the FIF is investing in a safer future for all countries.

The critical mission of the FIF is to address gaps in IHR core capacities and in preparedness, prevention, and response at the regional, national, and local level.

Indeed, as I have said before, a pandemic preparedness fund such as this is not charity, it is enlightened self-interest.

Reducing the risk from epidemics and pandemics in the most vulnerable parts of the world will help keep everybody safer, and economies more stable.

I am pleased to announce that the current plan is for WHO to serve as chair of the FIF's technical advisory panel, as part of its overall role in leading the FIF's technical work and guidance, within its home at the World Bank.

In a few moments, Dr Bruce Aylward will outline the proposed governance of the FIF, and Scott Pendergast will explain the operational planning, including the scope and priorities.

As always, we are grateful for your engagement with today's presentations, and we look forward to your questions, comments and guidance.

I thank you.

Copyright World Health Organization. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com)., source News Service English