"Substance Over Speed": Countries' Response to December Deadline To Conclude Pandemic Treaty Talks [INB12 Update]

Newsletter Edition #110 [Treaty Talks]

Hi,

It is a grim morning in Geneva, the seat of multilateralism, when international organizations and processes face greater uncertainty on account of potential, decisive geopolitical shifts.

We bring you a first update from the ongoing Pandemic Agreement talks in the latest round of meetings being convened at WHO.

This is being seen as a crucial stretch where countries are making efforts in a bid to conclude the negotiations by the end of 2024. (Some believe that one of the implications of a potential Trump win in the U.S. might suggest add to the urgency in concluding these negotiations).

We will be following up with more stories as these discussions evolve.

I also take the opportunity to emphasize again that the Press does not get access to official briefings on these processes. Fighting disinformation around the Pandemic Treaty is less effective if the Press is not let in.

Finally, gathering policy intelligence is hard work and with substantial costs. We wish more institutional subscribers support our journalism. We expect readers who gain from our reporting to help absorb some of our production costs. WHO member states, stakeholders, who find our work useful can seek subscriptions. Reader-funded journalism helps us remain independent.  

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Our gratitude to our subscribers who ensure we stay in the game!

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Thank you for reading. Until later!

Priti

Feel free to write to us: patnaik.reporting@gmail.com, Follow us on X: @filesgeneva

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Illustration Credit: Amy Clarke, Chembe Collaborative

I. UPDATE INB12

“Substance Over Speed”: Countries' Response to December Deadline To Conclude Pandemic Treaty Talks [INB12 Update]

Priti Patnaik & Nishant Sirohi

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Many WHO member states have emphasized the need for a meaningful Pandemic Agreement instead of rushing to conclude negotiations in December 2024, although a few countries in Africa, among others, have underscored the need for a year-end deadline.

Before the end of this week, countries will take a call on whether they will hold a special session next month with a view to concluding this three-year old process. In effect, countries will have to make a judgement later this week on whether they think they can reach consensus on the Pandemic Agreement in a month from now.

As the latest set of negotiations for a Pandemic Treaty gets underway in Geneva, it is hard to predict whether the December deadline will work. Given the unpredictability around negotiations in general, countries though skeptical, are not fully ruling out the possibility of wrapping up these discussions in five weeks to spare. (The proposed special session is tentatively around 18th-20th December next month.)

There is recognition that while substantial progress has been made across 30 different provisions of the Pandemic Agreement, crucial aspects remain unresolved. For many countries the meat of the treaty, lies in resolving differences on these pending provisions. While many technical and legal fixes are required across the breadth of the draft agreement, the most contentious decisions are political in nature, countries said in their statements.

Despite the progress made, even at this late stage, there is a real risk of the discussions heading towards a downward spiral as countries continue to dig in their heels from their positions from even 24 months ago.

“It is as if no one wants an agreement. We do not see any flexibility from any side,” a developed country negotiator told us today.

Some of the continuing key disagreements include, a new prevention instrument (Art.4), conditions for transfer of technology (Art.11), fundamental elements of the Pathogen Access and Benefits Sharing Mechanism (Art.12), language on compensation and liability (Art. 13), language on harmonization in the context of regulatory capacities (Art.14), financing (Art. 20), among others.

We reported recently on the renewed push to conclude these negotiations. But preliminary conversations with a range of negotiators across both developed and developing countries indicate that member states will not take the December deadline hook, line, and sinker. On all sides, there seems to be a defining self-interest that will not make compromise easy simply to meet a deadline. There were several strong statements from the Equity Group of more than 30 countries. Some of the smallest WHO member states also made their preferences clear on their expectations of the Pandemic Agreement.

“Why would I give up the fight now just to meet a deadline. We can take a few more months to do this well,” a negotiator from an emerging economy told us on the sidelines of the ongoing negotiations.

When this story went to print, early forecasts from the American Presidential election appear to favor Donald Trump. A Trump administration will have consequences and implications not only for the Pandemic Agreement talks, but also for WHO.

In this story we bring you excerpts of country statements made at the opening of the 12^th meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body in Geneva that will continue its deliberations till November 15^th, 2024.

At the opening of the meeting, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged countries “not to allow the perfect to become the enemy of the good or even the excellent.”

Excerpts from his statement:

Next month will mark three years since you met at a special session of the World Health Assembly to adopt the historic decision to develop a new instrument of international law on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response. For three years, you have worked hard to develop that instrument, as you will continue to do over the next two weeks. With the proposals on the table, I believe you have the ingredients in place to meet your objective. You face a balancing act between concluding your work in a timely manner and reaching the strongest possible text.

As I have said before, I urge you not to allow the perfect to become the enemy of the good or even the excellent. Our divided world needs hope that despite political and ideological differences between countries, they can still come together to find common solutions to common problems, you can provide hope. You can provide hope, you can demonstrate that multilateralism is still alive and well, as you did at the World Health Assembly earlier this year, by adopting important amendments to the International Health Regulations. And as I have also said before, no one will get everything they want. Everyone must give something, or no one will get anything.”

Image Credit: Photo by Nate Biddle, Pexels