Ambassador Dang Dinh Quy, Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the United Nations, speaks at a meeting of the UN General Assembly (Photo: VNA) New York (VNA) – Ambassador Dang Dinh Quy, Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the United Nations, on December 7 delivered a statement introducing the draft resolution on International Day of Epidemic Preparedness at the 75th session of the UN General Assembly. Following is the full text of the statement.
Thank you, Mr. President,
On behalf of Canada, the Republic of Niger, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the Republic of Senegal, the Kingdom of Spain and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, I have the honour to introduce the draft resolution contained in document A/75/L.18, entitled “International Day of Epidemic Preparedness” under agenda item 131 of the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly.
Mr. President and Excellencies,
The COVID-19 pandemic has spread worldwide, causing devastating impacts on human lives. However, this is not the first epidemic that we have faced in the past years, and it will no be the last. We have witnessed other epidemics, such as HIV/AIDS, Ebola, MERS, SARS, and H1N1, among others. In the future, another epidemic can break out at any moment and surpass previous incidences in terms of intensity and gravity if preparation is not made.
The General Assembly, in its Declaration on the commemoration of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the United Nations, points out that we all shall be prepared. The pandemic caught us off guard, but it also has served as a wake-up call for improving our preparedness.
Mr. President and Excellencies,
We believe that observing an International Day on Epidemic Preparedness will be a prominent way to achieve this goal. The Day will remind all stakeholders of the impacts left by recent past epidemics and the need to have a permanent sense of epidemic prevention in all of their activities. In addition, it will underline the need to raise the level of preparedness in order to have the earliest and most adequate response to any epidemic that may arise. Last but not least, it willstress the importance of partnership among every individual, community, state, and also regional and international organizations in all stages of epidemic management.
Mr. President and Excellencies,
Throughout the negotiation process of this resolution, we have sought to listen to the priorities of our fellow Member States and to reflect these in the text. We are very pleased that the text successfully passed the silence procedure and now is ready for your consideration.
Taking this opportunity, we would like to express our sincere appreciation to all delegations for their participation in the negotiation. I would also like to thank the delegations, who have joined the co-sponsorship on this resolution. We hope all Member States will continue to kindly support the draft resolution by adopting it by consensus.
We thank you./.
VNA
