The Senior Officials' Meeting of the International Pledging Conference on Avian and Human Pandemic Influenza opened in Beijing on January 17 2006. There were nearly 700 representatives from over 100 countries including the United States and Japan and over 20 international organizations participating in the meeting. Qiao Zonghuai, Vice Minister of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, addressed the opening ceremony. David Nabarro, Senior UN System Coordinator for Avian and Human Influenza, James Adams, World Bank Vice President, and Herve Jouanjean, Directorate for External Relations of the European Commission delivered important speeches at the meeting.

Qiao said in his address that in the context of globalization, avian influenza is not only an issue concerning public health, but also an issue affecting economic and social development of some countries. The prevention and control of avian influenza is in a critical stage. Therefore, strengthening international cooperation to curb the spread of avian influenza is of great significance. Qiao spoke out the expectations of China for this meeting: advancing partnership by giving full play to each country's advantages, motivating enthusiasm of each country and strengthening cooperation in the prevention and control of avian influenza; deepening consensus by conducing cooperation in key areas such as the control of pandemic situation, drugs R&D, information sharing and strategy development and translating words into action; and providing financial guarantee and mobilizing more capitals and resources to assist developing countries in their prevention and control efforts. Qiao also stressed that the Chinese government attaches great importance to the prevention and control of avian influenza and is willing to strengthen cooperation and coordination with all sides concerned, translate political promises into action and make the meeting achieve its expected results.

Nabarro said in his speech that since the Geneva conference in 2005, the international community has made active progress in such areas as formulating comprehensive prevention and control strategies, preventing avian influenza infection in humans, building up international technological networks, and doing R&D. The United Nations (UN) played a very important role as a coordinator in this process. The UN should continue to strengthen cooperation with its agencies, concerned countries and international organizations to conquer avian influenza.

The meeting sang high praise for the contribution made by China for the smooth operation of the conference and recognized the achievements made by China in the prevention and control of avian influenza. The delegates discussed over the financing cap for the prevention and control of avian influenza, the mechanisms for the management, utilization, and coordination of funds as well as other issues, and reached initial consensus on the two outcome documents of the meeting, Beijing Declaration and the report titled Avian and Human Influenza: Multi-donor Financing Framework.

The Ministerial Meeting of the International Pledging Conference on Avian and Human Pandemic Influenza will be held tomorrow. Premier Wen Jiabao will address the opening ceremony of the ministerial meeting.