Cablegate: Joint U.S.-Japan Meeting with Who Director-General

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RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHGV #1057 1200531
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 300531Z APR 07
FM USMISSION GENEVA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3716
INFO RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK 1920
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 5657
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 3045
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 6280
RUEHJA/AMEMBASSY JAKARTA 2125
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 2708
RUEHNR/AMEMBASSY NAIROBI 1765
RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA 5575
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 6623
RUEHPH/CDC ATLANTA GA
RUEAUSA/DEPT OF HHS WASHINGTON DC
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 2205

UNCLAS GENEVA 001057

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPT FOR G, AIAG, OES, IO/T

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: TBIO AORC
SUBJECT: JOINT U.S.-JAPAN MEETING WITH WHO DIRECTOR-GENERAL
CHAN: AVIAN FLU AND SAMPLE SHARING

REF: SECSTATE 54183

1, Ambassador Tichenor and Japanese Permanent
Representative Ichiro Fujisaki, accompanied by Health
Attaches of the two Missions, met April 24 with World Health
Organization (WHO) Director-General Margaret Chan. Chan was
accompanied by Dr. Bill Kean, Executive Director of the DG's
office, and Gian Luca Burci, WHO Legal Counsel. Drawing on
points contained reftel, Ambassador Tichenor stressed to Chan
the issue of sample sharing of influenza virus is not a
North/South issue, cannot be dealt with on a bilateral basis,
should not be seen as an issue involving intellectual
property rights, and must be considered within the
international framework. Ambassador Fujisaki underscored his
support for these points. Both Ambassadors expressed support
for the WHO's leadership on this issue.

2. Chan responded by reaffirming the importance of virus
sharing to assess the risk of influenza to the world.
Referring to the recent meeting in Jakarta on this issue,
Chan said some countries were concerned about the lack of a
level playing field and the inability of developing countries
to benefit from virus sharing. Chan said Indonesia had asked
Japan for the necessary permits that would allow it to send
virus samples to the WHO influenza collaborating center in
Japan, noting this was a positive development. Chan opined
that the "union" between Thailand and Indonesia on this issue
was breaking down, and such a "delinking" would be useful.

3. Chan said the Third World Network, a group of NGOs that
normally worked on intellectual property issues within the
context of WIPO, had become active on this issue and was
urging countries such as Kenya, Brazil, Indonesia, Thailand
and China not to share virus samples until the question of
sharing benefits was solved. Chan opined that so far, only
Indonesia shared this view.

4. Addressing the point on solving this issue within an
international framework, Chan stressed the importance of
working within the WHO's Global Influenza Surveillance
Network, but noted some WHO collaborating centers, which she
did not identify, were not following WHO guidelines and were
not informing their host countries about their activities.
Referring to the April 25 meeting on options for increasing
the access of developing countries to H5N1 and other
potential pandemic vaccines, Chan asked for U.S. and Japanese
support, particularly for the vaccine stockpile concept (see
septel on this meeting). In closing, Chan thanked the United
States and Japan for their support for WHO grants to six
developing countries to improve vaccine production capacity.
TICHENOR

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