Secretary Antony J. Blinken at a Ministerial Meeting of the Foreign Ministry Channel for Global Health Security

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Well, good morning, everyone. Colleagues, thank you so much for being here this morning. It's Friday - (laughter) - but I think we sometimes save the best or the - sometimes the most important for last, and this is one of those examples.

COVID-19, other outbreaks of disease - like the mpox outbreak that we're currently facing - show us why health security is national security. Diplomacy is one of the essential tools for trying to mobilize political will, to raise awareness, to unlock and unblock obstacles that get in the way of the collaboration necessary to deal with the outbreak of disease and its spread.

This Foreign Ministry Channel for Global Health Security was launched in March as a forum for all of our foreign ministries to work to proactively communicate, to share information, to coordinate efforts, to strengthen global health security. So, I simply wanted to start by thanking everyone for your partnership in this endeavor, for your recognition that we all have a role to play when it comes to dealing with improving the health of our populations, both in our own countries and around the world.

And with this channel that we've established together, I look forward to robust conversations about how we can further collaborate, how we can further use our shared knowledge, insights, resources to combat - and mobilize, as necessary, the international community when it comes to global health, when it comes to prevention, when it comes to responses. And these partnerships are absolutely critical. It's also important that we continue the work of doing work with critical multilateral funds like the Pandemic Fund.

So, simply put, today's an opportunity, an opportunity to lay more ground for future collaboration. I think we all know from the COVID experience how essential that is, and I'm grateful for everyone's participation today.

Thank you.