Boris Johnson to call for greater international cooperation in UN speech
Boris Johnson will use his speech at the UN General Assembly on Saturday to call for greater international cohesion while also laying out a five-point plan to prevent future pandemics.
The Prime Minister is expected to say that the coronavirus pandemic has created larger divides in geopolitics “at a time where closer collaboration is more important than ever”, while also committing to an increase in World Health Organisation (WHO) funding.
The pandemic has seen tensions between the US and China increase, with UN general secretary António Guterres warning that a “new cold war” may be beginning.
US President Donald Trump used his UN General Assembly speech this week to launch attacks on China, calling coronavirus the “China virus” and adding that the country “unleashed this plague”.
The Prime Minister will also lay out a five-point plan to prevent future pandemics.
It includes designing a “global early warning system” to predict an upcoming health crisis, implementing a global response plan to future pandemics, reducing trade barriers and laying the foundation to create new vaccines for “emerging threats”.
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The centrepiece of the plan is to set up “worldwide network of zoonotic research hubs to spot a new pandemic before it starts”, according to a Downing Street official.
Zoonotic diseases – which pass from animals to humans like the coronavirus – make up 60 per cent of known infectious diseases.
Johnson will also announce a 30 per cent increase in WHO funding, which will bring the UK’s contribution to £340m over the next four years.
It comes after Trump announced earlier this year that he would withdraw all US funding from the WHO, leaving a big hole in the organisation’s budget.
Trump withdrew the funding, after claiming China had “total control” over the WHO.