Mr President, excellencies, distinguished delegates,

I have the honour to deliver this statement on behalf of the European Union and its Member States.

The Candidate Countries North Macedonia, Montenegro*, Albania*, Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina* and Georgia, as well as San Marino and the United Kingdom align themselves with this statement.

Let me start by expressing our sincere appreciation to Hungary and The Philippines for facilitating the negotiations. The EU and its Member States fully recognise the importance of sustainable and safe water, sanitation, hygiene, waste and electricity (WASH) services in health care facilities. We have therefore engaged constructively throughout the negotiations.

Mr President,

The climate crisis and the water crisis are putting tremendous pressure on WASH services in health care facilities. That is why the EU and its Member States have sought to strengthen this year's resolution on these issues. We are therefore pleased that the resolution contains several important and necessary updates on these issues. The climate dimension now gets the attention it deserves in this resolution and we commend the co-facilitators for their tireless efforts in this regard. We also underline the importance of the reference to the United Nations System-wide Strategy for Water and Sanitation, which will be crucial for delivering on this and other water-related resolutions.

At the same time, we regret that not more of our proposals could be included on these and other issues, which would have further strengthened the resolution. These include our proposals relating to the climate-health nexus, which can be addressed through the effective operationalisation of the One Health approach. In addition, on two issues we are not in a position to agree to divert from agreed language from more recent resolutions. The first is the reference to 'zero waste initiatives' in PP17, which we can only recognise if 'local and national', and the second is the reference to 'traditional medicines' in PP19, which we can only recognise if 'evidence-based'. Therefore, on both of these issues, we consider that no precedent is set.

Finally, in the future negotiations of this resolution, and in line with the Sevilla Commitment, we would like to reaffirm that the transition to health sovereignty with country ownership at its core is essential to achieve sustainable financing, and that strong partnerships and international financing can act as an important complement to support this transition.

Mr President,

The EU and its Member States regret that a vote has been called on this normally consensual resolution. We believe this undermines our collective effort and the constructive spirit of striving for consensus which has also guided the negotiations on this resolution this year. We have therefore voted in favour of this resolution.

I thank you.

1. North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.