Hon. Nimal Siripala de Silva, Minister of Healthcare and Nutrition, was unanimously elected the President of the WHO Executive Board for a one year period at the 123rd Executive Board meeting today in Geneva.
Accepting the Presidency the Hon. Minister said that it is the bounden duty of the member states to protect and nurture the WHO and also to ensure that it remains as the global leader in health.
Full speech delivered by Hon. Minister is as follows,
Dr Sadasivam,
Dr Margaret Chan,
Distinguished members of the Executive Board,
Observers from Member States and representatives from UN and other international agencies,
WHO Officials and friends,
At the outset let me extend my gratitude to all the members of the Executive Board for the trust and confidence reposed in me by unanimously electing me as your President. I consider it as a great honour and privilege to my Region, South East Asia, as well as to my country, Sri Lanka. I believe this is also a tribute to my country and people in recognition of the significant health gains we have made over the past few decades.
I particularly thank my South East Asian colleagues, Indonesia and Bangladesh, for their kind support.I had the privilege of being a Member of this distinguished Board twice and served in a number of the Committees of this Board. I recollect with gratitude the kindness and support of so many of our colleagues in the Board as well as in the WHO Secretariat – specially our former Director General, Dr Gro Harlem Bruntland, and the current Director General, Dr Margaret Chan.To me WHO is the body with the noble mission to serve as the guardian of the health aspirations of the world community.
Therefore it is our bounden duty to protect it, nurture it and to ensure that it remains as the global leader in health. Dear colleagues, I am deeply conscious of the responsibility that you have vested in me as President and I am confident that with your unstinted support and cooperation we will collectively be able to fulfill the responsibilities entrusted to us.
Thank you.