Wednesday, 16 October 2024 Thank you for joining us for this special event. Today we stand at a critical juncture. The next six years will determine whether we succeed in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, including SDG 3 on good health and well-being – in the Eastern Mediterranean Region and globally. The WHO Investment Round aims to make sure that WHO is optimally placed to support Member States and partners to achieve our shared goals. As the global Investment Case highlights, every dollar invested in WHO generates 35 dollars in returns. That is a very smart investment. It could help save an additional 40 million lives and enable billions of people to live healthy lives, safe from harm and with access to the health services they need. Flexible and predictable financing for our core work for the next four years is essential for us to deliver the best possible health results. In our Region, emergencies continue to make huge demands, and we also need to redouble efforts to eradicate polio. We thank our Member States and partners for the generous support that you have provided so far, but we need even more. We must keep on raising resources to ensure that we can fulfil our life-saving mission. Sustainable financing will allow us to meet immediate demands while also advancing the long-term health agenda. Our core work, financed through WHO’s base budget, includes work across all our priorities. The base budget is the foundation that allows us to have a core predictable presence in each country. That means we can serve and support all our Member States and people, and we also have capacity to respond rapidly when required – like in the current Lebanon emergency response or the urgent polio vaccination campaign in Gaza. There are challenges in our Region, but also opportunities for huge health gains. In the past year alone, we have seen some remarkable achievements in disease elimination and other areas. And we already know how to achieve even more. The regional strategic operational plan and three flagship initiatives that we presented to the Regional Committee set out a clear direction for WHO in the Region. But to implement our plans successfully, we need effective partnership. We need to further grow our capacity to collaborate with public and private partners. There is so much that we can build on and scale up – sharing experiences and drawing on successes and innovation from within the Region and beyond. To make it happen, we need flexible and predictable resources. The upfront commitments made in this Investment Round will enable WHO to be a global leader in health. Your support will allow us to plan for the expected and the unexpected – and to deliver results in and for countries. It is only together that we can deliver a healthier and more equitable future. So please join us and contribute towards a sustainably financed WHO.