Dr Muhammad Sulaiman Al Jasser, President of the Islamic Development Bank Group,
Dr Ahmed Al-Mandhari, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean,
Dear colleagues and friends,
Good morning, it's a great honour to be here to sign this historic agreement between WHO and the Islamic Development Bank.
I regret that we were not able to do it earlier, in Geneva, New York, Berlin or Bali - but perhaps it's more fitting that we are able to do it here in Qatar, which is a Member State of both our organizations, and during this very historic moment of the World Cup being hosted by Qatar, and the Middle East.
I thank Dr Al-Jasser and your team at the Islamic Development Bank for your partnership, and for your shared vision to support countries to accelerate progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals.
The world was a very different place when countries came together in 2015 to agree on the SDGs - the most ambitious development agenda in history.
Since then, the world has suffered the most severe health crisis in a century, politics has become more divisive, the effects of climate change are increasingly obvious, and conflicts have erupted around the world, giving rise to a food and energy crisis.
Even before the pandemic, the world was off-track for the SDGs. Now we're even further behind.
But far from derailing the SDGs, the challenges we face demonstrate why we must pursue them with even more determination, innovation and cooperation.
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They show why we cannot accept the world we live in, and why all of us must do everything we can to change it.
The agreement we are signing today will help us to do that in Member States common to WHO and the Islamic Development Bank - many of which are among the poorest, most fragile and most vulnerable in the world.
The five pillars of the agreement target some of the most critical issues these countries face, especially strengthening primary health care, as the foundation of universal health coverage, which the President said was one of the central pillars of today's agreement.
Since 2020 we have been working together to support Afghanistan, Cameroon, Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Yemen respond to COVID-19, and we look forward to building on this experience to do more, in more countries.
Mr President, thank you once again for your partnership. We look forward to working with you very closely to accelerate the implementation of the first wave of country projects, and to working towards a healthier, safer, fairer world, for all people.
Shukran jazeelan.
