Blinken To Host Fourth COVID-19 Global Action Plan Ministerial - Statement

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 07th February, 2023) US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will host the fourth and final Ministerial meeting on February 8 of the Global Action Plan (GAP), the State Department said Monday.

"A year after launching the COVID-19 Global Action Plan (GAP), Secretary Blinken will host a fourth and final Ministerial on February 8 to conclude the work of the GAP focused on the acute needs of the pandemic, identify remaining barriers, and look towards the future to promote collaboration on preventing, detecting, and responding to the next global health threat," a department spokesperson said.

Agency officials said the GAP expanded global COVID-19 response activities and built on the progress partners were making to end the acute phase of the pandemic.

"The ministerial will review the GAP's accomplishments and assess the political channel created by the GAP and its added value to pandemic response.

Health security is national security, and foreign ministers and regional and international organization representatives play a critical role in addressing health threats," officials said.

The US and its global partners have made progress in ending the acute phase of the pandemic but recognize there is more to be done, the spokesperson said.

"The heightened interest in health security as a foreign policy concern offers a window of opportunity to organize politically to support efforts to protect our collective global health and health security."

Blinken has proposed a new Bureau of Global Health Security and Diplomacy at the Department of State, as a way to ensure that US "diplomacy is elevating and working to advance these shared global challenges," he said.