Mr. Chairman, distinguished guests, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen!
It is a great pleasure for me to address today this ministerial meeting on the margins of the 62nd session of the General Assembly.
I would like to command you, Mr. Chairman and our other six colleagues who launched this Initiative last September here in New York, which Croatia has followed with great interest. I am also very happy that we have heard just now from the Secretary-General of the United Nations that this issue is very high on his agenda.
Globalization and interdependence of today's world have changed the role of international relations, requiring from foreign policy an innovative approach in dealing with such an issue of international importance. Therefore, Croatia recognizes that placing a global health at the centre of our foreign policy agenda is our common duty.
In this regard, we have studied carefully the seven Ministers' political declaration and the Agenda for action issued this year in Oslo. Croatia not only welcomes the Initiative, which underlines that health, as a foreign policy issue, needs a careful consideration on the international agenda, but also expresses its readiness to pursue actively its objectives.
In our global world we face many common challenges and threats. Global health threats are the most serious, because they put in danger a basic human security and, in many cases, life itself. It can, therefore, have both direct and indirect impact on stability and security of our countries.
It is also well known that according to the Constitution of the World Health Organization “health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” and it is a fundamental right of every human being. Therefore, we need to consider health in its integrity taking into consideration that it is a driving force of economic growth and sustainable development. Thus, we need to assist developing countries and other countries in need to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
In this regard, I would like to reiterate Croatia's commitment to increase our capacity to face threats to global health security and to contribute to the implementation of the Agenda for action by maintaining health on the global agenda. It has to be done through constant dialogue and partnership to achieve concrete results from sharing information in order to control emerging of infectious diseases, train more health workers with better geographical distribution, help in times of crisis, either man-made or natural disasters, give global response to HIV/AIDS especially in Africa, but also to malaria and tuberculosis to streamlining health into both international and national development agendas, including economic, social and environmental areas.
Thank you Mr. Chairman!
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