22 August 2007
The Prime Minister and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have announced a new global health partnership following talks at Downing Street. The new initiative will launch formally on 5 September, to drive forward work on Millennium Development Goals involving the reduction of child and maternal mortality and the tackling of specific diseases such as HIV/AIDS.
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Prime Minister:
Can I say what a pleasure it has been to have Chancellor Merkel here in Downing Street. I am very grateful to her for coming to London today and we are both looking forward to the Germany-England football match, and we will have to rush to get there after the length of our talks. I am really pleased that she has been able to come here today because we have been able to discuss some of the major issues that affect both our countries and affect the international order.
We have obviously discussed the financial system and what has been happening on the international markets and we believe that the fundamentals of our economies are strong. We have discussed obviously also the world trade talks where we believe that progress can be made, and we are determined to work together with other countries so that we do have a world trade agreement that will bring both stability and dynamism to the economic system. We have discussed also climate change, which is a major concern that has been taken up through the leadership of Chancellor Merkel, and I am grateful to her for the way she led the G8 this year to the climate change agreements, and we are preparing the ground together for the UN meeting that will take place in Bali in December.
Together we have both been active in trying to bring peace to Darfur and we will continue to press the various parties in Darfur to back up the United Nations Resolution on the issue of Darfur, making it possible for there to be peace on the ground following the decision that there will be African Union and UN peace-keeping troops in Darfur in the next few weeks.
We discussed a range of European Union issues, including the amending treaties, and our countries will continue to work together on all issues affecting the European Union.
And we discussed - and I just come to this as the main point that I want to raise - how we can together work to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and Germany and the United Kingdom are agreed that there is a need for an international health initiative. Chancellor Merkel has been leading with her involvement in the Global Fund for Health. We now believe that as a result of the decisions of the G8 earlier this year we should go further. We agreed that there is a development emergency, in other words that there are many people, indeed millions of people facing the risk of death because of inadequate health provision. We want to act together to create greater capacity in the healthcare systems of the poorer countries so that we can deal with diseases, including diphtheria, tuberculosis, polio and measles, and of course the deaths that are taking place as a result of AIDS. And we are agreed that on 5 September - that is a few days from now - as part of the global campaign on health, we are launching the International Health Partnership which will bring together major donors, international health agencies and developing countries to ensure that the aid that is given can be properly used, building up the capacity of healthcare systems, and making sure that drugs and treatments that are available in the richest countries can be available in the poorest countries of the world. So together we want to create the possibility that we will now move faster to meet the Millennium Development Goals, reducing infant mortality, maternal mortality and making sure that the capacity of healthcare systems in the poorer countries are developed in the same way that we propose an education fast track initiative, so that we can meet our aims for education for all.
It is a great pleasure to have had Chancellor Merkel for these discussions today. I will now ask her to say a few words, and then we will take questions, and thank you all for being present this evening.
Chancellor Merkel:
Thank you very much. It is with great pleasure that I have come here today to London. We had a chance to meet the Prime Minister in Berlin. The Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, was so kind to already describe in detail today’s agenda, the agenda of our talks today. Allow me just to comment on two of the agenda items.
We strongly welcome the British initiative which is aiming at us, combined with the Millennium Development Goals, and that is the health initiative that the British have proposed. We believe that that indeed offers us an opportunity to help us efficiently work towards us complying with those Millennium Development Goals. I will be travelling to Africa very soon and I will do my best to canvass for their support.
It also gives me great pleasure to hear that the British will continue to stand by us in helping us work on the lines of the International Finance Mechanism. Here we can rely on a good partnership in the framework of what was agreed upon by the G8.
We had a number of issues on our agenda, as the Prime Minister kindly pointed out, and I have no intention whatsoever of repeating them again and again. Just let me name a few of them: trade talks at the WTO; climate change. I still believe that we do stand a good chance of making a success out of the trade talks by cooperating very closely.
Thank you very much for having us here today, thank you very much for taking us to the match now right after this press conference. I think it is fair to say that the British and the Germans can indeed pride themselves on an excellent cooperation bilaterally, but also in the frame of the G8 and the European Union.
Prime Minister:
I endorse that and thank you for coming this evening.
Question:
We would all like to know, Prime Minister, if it matters to you who wins tonight’s match. But also more seriously, how can you resist calls for a referendum now when they are coming from within your own party, and crucially today very forcefully from within the trade union movement?
Prime Minister:
Well I have been very clear throughout that if we can achieve, as we have done so far, our negotiating objectives, then I believe the proper way of considering this is through detailed consideration in Parliament itself, in the House of Commons and in the House of Lords. We set out, under Tony Blair’s leadership, to achieve a number of objectives when the European Union discussed the amending treaty. These objectives included that we were very clear about the protocols we needed to achieve on the Charter of Rights, we had to achieve, as we said, progress on justice and home affairs which means that there was an opt-in for Britain, at the same time on the foreign policy and security we were very clear again there that this had to remain an intergovernmental matter, and we also achieved our negotiating objectives on social security and on security. Now we are determined that when the detail of the amending treaty becomes available and when the discussions of the intergovernmental conference happen, that we will achieve in detail all these negotiating objectives that we believe were guaranteed by the signatures in the European Council only a few weeks ago, and that is what we are aiming to do over the next few months. And I think Chancellor Merkel will be able to confirm that what was achieved in Brussels in meeting our negotiating objectives is a treaty that will allow the European Union to continue to work with 27 members, but at the same time safeguard the position of countries like ours who had to achieve these objectives before we could sign up to what the amending treaty was.
Question:
Will you simply ignore the trade unions if they pass a resolution against this?
Prime Minister:
Well let’s see what the trade unions do. My own view is that the Trades Union Congress, when it meets, will support the Government on this matter, and not oppose the Government, but let us see what happens when they meet. I just say that if we achieve in the detailed discussions the negotiating objectives that we achieved in Brussels under Chancellor Merkel’s excellent chairmanship, then we believe the proper way to discuss this is through the detailed consideration of the House of Commons and the House of Lords, and I believe that Parliament will pass the legislation.
Chancellor Merkel:
I can only add to this by saying that we have first-hand experience of the negotiations, but we will do whatever we can to see that every detail is being implemented that is contained in the mandate, and I think every member state of the European Union can rely on us doing that.
Prime Minister:
And we are determined to achieve in detail the negotiating objectives we achieved in Brussels, and we are very grateful to Chancellor Merkel for supporting that.
Question:
Prime Minister, did you raise the subject of Afghanistan? And do you have the impression that something has changed since summer last year, since the World Cup - that relations between the two countries, if you talk about media treatment, have slightly changed and are at a rather relaxed stage now?
Prime Minister:
Well I think relations between our two countries are very strong indeed and I am delighted that Chancellor Merkel has chosen to come here today. But also that we have been able to work together already on some of the very important issues facing the world, and I applaud what she has done on climate change, what she is doing with us on Darfur, the interest that the German government are taking and how we can improve the international financial system, and her work to revive the world trade talks. And I believe there is a common agenda on all these issues moving forward.
As for the football match, I am hoping that England scores a large number of goals this evening, but it is a friendly match and I know that we will have some of the greatest players in the world on show this evening and I am looking forward to that.
On Afghanistan, let me just say this is the front line against the Taliban. Let us not forget that until a few years ago the Taliban were in control of Afghanistan. I believe there is a united international interest in making sure that the Taliban do not restore control in Afghanistan. The benefits of young children being able to go to school, 5 million more children at school, girls getting education for the first time are obvious to see, but of course this demands a coordinated international effort. And where there has been a loss of life, I really do regret that. I think however that most people looking at the situation in Afghanistan know that we have got to continue that fight against the Taliban.
Chancellor Merkel:
Of course we talked about Afghanistan and we will continue to talk about it in more detail on our way to the match. Our countries have different responsibilities that are part and parcel of the same mission, that is a mission that has to continue, and wherever an increase of our efforts and engagement and commitment is required, be that in the police, in reconstruction efforts, then we have to attend to that. But as I said, we are going to talk about that in detail. As for the rest, I can only refer to what the Prime Minister has just said.
And the second remark, if I may. You may be aware of the fact that in the minds and in the hearts of the Germans, the Wembley Stadium has always had a very special place, it has always had a great impact on the Germans, and that is why I am really dying to go and see it with my own eyes tonight. And it will not come as a surprise to you in telling you now that of course I am placing my bets on the German team winning, but still I hope that during last year’s World Cup people may have come to know that the Germans are people who indeed can enjoy themselves every once in a while, indeed are people who enjoy smiling and being pleasant people, and people of the world who are also very proud of what they have achieved.
Prime Minister:
Thank you all very much, and I enjoyed very much being at the World Cup in Germany last year and the hospitality of the German government and the German people, and while I am looking forward to an England win this evening, I know that Germany has got a very good football team.
I am sorry, but if we delay any longer in going we will miss the match. But thank you very much.
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