The first steps – a ban on wild markets animals and incentives to report viruses
The idea of a global health strategy announced before “24 hours” 2 years ago Solomon Passy
The EU is pushing for a global agreement aimed at preventing new pandemics, Reuters reported.
For the first time, the idea of a health shield around Europe was launched by a group of leaders – Bulgarians and foreigners, including Solomon Passy, chairman of the Atlantic Club. They told about the plan in detail initially in the newspaper “24 hours” on April 13, 2020, shortly after the beginning of the covid pandemic.
The global pact the EU is currently considering will include the gradual closure of wildlife markets and incentives for countries to report new viruses, an EU official told Reuters.
The union wants to impose legally binding obligations to report new outbreaks, according to an EU project seen by Reuters. Incentives for countries to report new viruses are crucial to quickly detect and avoid concealment.
Incentives may include guaranteed access to medicines and vaccines. In the current pandemic, poor nations have long struggled to gain access to medicine as richer nations have rushed to secure supplies for themselves. Countries that detect and report a new virus can immediately receive supplies of medical equipment from a common global stockpile.
International negotiators met for the first time this week to prepare for a potential agreement, with a preliminary agreement by August.
The talks will be led by delegates from six countries representing the world’s major regions – Japan, the Netherlands, Brazil, South Africa, Egypt and Thailand. If an agreement is reached, the agreement is expected to be signed in May 2024.
The pioneers of
The Health Shield
The Health Shield Europe (HeShEu) strategy was sent to EC President Ursula von der Leyen almost two years ago as part of a pan-European effort coordinated by the Atlantic Club in Sofia. Besides Solomon Passy, among the Bulgarians who signed the European Schengen plan are Gergana Passy, Prof. Ognyan Gerdjikov, Rosen Plevneliev, Prof. Asen Baltov, Prof. Nikolay Gabrovski, Prof. Georgi Miloshev.
Prominent foreign politicians and public figures who signed HeShEu include former EC Vice President and former Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini and former Romanian Vice President Mircea Pascu.
The idea was to turn this plan into a World Health Shield.
Solomon Passy: Let our country be active in this debate, more vision and imagination
– What do you think of the EU’s intentions for new global policies to prevent future pandemics, Mr Passy?
– I am surprised that this key and seemingly controversial policy was adopted so soon – only 20 months after we proposed it. Such ideas usually mature for years, but apparently the pandemic catalyzes world thinking. We are pleased that Bulgaria has once again given something to the world.
– Bulgaria gave to the world, and what did it take?
“Nothing!” Every Bulgarian subject can give – and the state, and the people, and the person, and NGOs like ours. But to take something back – from NATO, the EU, the OSCE, etc., we need a country with imagination, which we have not had for a long time.
We took nothing as a side of being the first to create a mass of advanced initiatives and projects: the common charger for GSM and free WiFi, the EU’s policy against soil degradation, the idea of a pan-European space law, and now from Health Shield Europe , or the first non-NATO Atlantic Club…
“And what could we take?”
– For example, hosting key European agencies or profiling Bulgaria in key European policies.
And now, on this particular occasion, if Bulgaria participates proactively, but with competent participants in the European debate, we could accelerate the launch of other elements of the “Health Shield”, which offers a new world health order.
– What other projects of the Atlantic Club do you expect to be recognized internationally?
– First of all: the need for a NATO-China confidential dialogue (our vision of 2008, which is already maturing) and the urgent need for a NATO-India strategic partnership – our idea, widely publicized in India as well.
– And for Bulgaria, which two steps at this moment would change the future of the nation the most?
– Establish a national space agency and a national strategy for G20 membership.
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