Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian and Minister for Solidarity and Health Olivier Véran traveled to Lyon today to take part in the Joint Conference of Foreign Ministers and Health Ministers of the European Union.
This joint ministerial conference is being held in an unprecedented format initiated under the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union and marks a new step toward building a Europe of Health. The conference will give the ministers the chance to learn from the way that the European Union structured its pandemic crisis response, especially with regards to vaccine purchasing and donations, treatments, diagnoses, production capacities and the strengthening of health care systems.
Over the course of their exchanges, the ministers will highlight Europe's increased support for low- and middle-income countries facing the Covid-19 pandemic, in particular in the lead-up to the European Union-African Union summit, which will be held this coming February 17 and 18. With Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesu, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), in attendance, they will underscore the European Union's leadership role in the multilateral health architecture. Jean-Yves Le Drian will express France's support for negotiations on a new international treaty on pandemics that would complement the revised version of the International Health Regulations.
Jean-Yves Le Drian will take this opportunity to commend Lyon on its dynamic health ecosystem. The city of Lyon is home to the WHO's International Health Regulations office, International Agency for Research on Cancer and Academy.