Text is addressed to “leaders of the G7, G20, Brics” and other nations involved with the document
The president (PT) signed, together with the director general of the WHO (World Health Organization), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, a letter asking international leaders to conclude the treaty on pandemics. The text was presented this Monday (June 15, 2026) during the G7 summit.
The document is aimed at “leaders of the G7, G20, BRICS and all nations” involved in the negotiations. In the letter, Lula and Tedros ask “political will at the highest level”, “spirit of equity” e “sense of urgency”.
According to the signatories, the countries have already completed most of the agreement. The annex on Access to Pathogens and Benefit Sharing still needs to be defined, which deals with sharing information about pathogens so that scientists can develop tools such as tests and vaccines.
“This is the final piece not only of the Agreement on Pandemics, but of everything that the WHO and its Member States have built based on the lessons left by covid-19. Until it is concluded, the agreement cannot enter into force. The promise will remain incomplete”says the letter.
The agreement was reached in April 2025, after 3 years of negotiations between the 194 WHO member countries. Despite this, it has not yet come into force.
The next round of negotiations will be held from July 6th to 17th. Lula and Tedros say they believe in the negotiators.
“We know there are times when well-intentioned people, working hard at the negotiating table, need their leaders to expand their vision beyond immediate disagreements. This is one of those times. And that responsibility is yours.”but-se na carta.
Read the full text in Portuguese:
“Open letter to the leaders of the G7, G20, BRICS and all nations on the completion of the Access to Pathogens and Benefit Sharing annex of the WHO Pandemic Agreement
“The letter from President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, of the Federative Republic of Brazil, and the director general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, is released on the occasion of the G7 summit.
“Dear leaders of the G7, G20, BRICS and all nations,
“We write together, from Geneva and Brasilia, with a common conviction: the world needs to finish what it started, and you can help make that possible.
“We began not with an institution or an annex, but with a memory shared by all humanity. Not long ago, our hospitals were full. Families said goodbye to their loved ones through glass, over the phone, or in many cases, were unable to say goodbye at all. Children lost grandparents. Doctors and nurses, exhausted beyond any reasonable limit, continued working anyway. Estimates from the WHO and other institutions indicate that up to 20 million lives were lost. Amid the pain of that moment, humanity promised itself that it would never face a similar situation again without being prepared.
“Just over a year ago, the world fulfilled the first part of that promise. After the deadliest pandemic in a century, nations chose cooperation over division and adopted the WHO Pandemic Agreement to strengthen the way countries can work together to prevent, prepare for and respond to pandemics. In a divided world, this outcome was not guaranteed. It was an act of hope and mutual trust. We write now because that hope has not yet been fully realized and because it is in your hands to help make it reality.
“There is only one piece missing. To quickly respond to future pandemics, countries need to be able to quickly identify pathogens with pandemic potential and share their genetic information and biological samples so that scientists can develop tools such as tests, treatments and vaccines, which often determine who lives and who dies. The system that makes this possible fairly and on equal terms is the PABS (Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing) annex. This is the final piece not just of the Agreement on Pandemics, but of everything that the WHO and its Member States have built based on the lessons left by covid-19. Until it is concluded, the agreement cannot come into force.
“We will not pretend that the path has been easy. When Member States closed their most recent session on May 1, they had made concrete progress, but agreed that more time was needed. The most difficult questions – including how the benefits from sharing pathogens will be defined and distributed, how the system will be governed, and how equity will be ensured – are complex for a reason. It was precisely these questions that went unanswered in the last pandemic, while people who could have been protected were left without access to the necessary means. The world faces these challenges now because they are fundamental.
“Negotiators will meet again from July 6th to 17th. We believe in them and closely follow their dedication. But we also know that there are times when well-intentioned people, working hard at the negotiating table, need their leaders to expand their vision beyond immediate disagreements. This is one of those times. And that responsibility is yours.
“That’s why we make 3 requests directly.
“First, political will at the highest level. The outstanding issues will not be resolved by technical efforts alone. They require the clear signal that only heads of state and government can give: that the completion of this annex is a national priority and that its negotiators are authorized to seek consensus with courage, not excessive caution. Solidarity is our best immunity, but solidarity needs to be a choice, and that choice must start at the top.
“We also know that many may question whether the Pandemic Agreement compromises the sovereignty of States. It does not. And neither does the PABS annex, as an integral part of the agreement. Article 22, paragraph 2, clearly states that nothing in the agreement grants the WHO the authority to direct or change national laws and policies, nor to require measures such as lockdowns, travel restrictions or mandatory vaccinations. These decisions remain the responsibility of sovereign States.
“For this reason, we specifically ask that you guide your negotiators to arrive at the July round prepared to conclude the negotiations and that you give them sufficient flexibility to overcome the remaining differences and finalize the annex at this stage.
“Second, a spirit of equity. The PABS system is based on a simple and fair principle: those who rapidly share dangerous pathogens must be able to trust that the vaccines and treatments developed from that sharing will also reach their populations. We all have a stake in both sides of this commitment.
“When Brazil held the presidency of the G20, in 2024, it led the recognition, for the first time, of inequality as a driving factor of pandemics. This is not about charity or just moral conscience. It is also about strategy. PABS exists to stop outbreaks at their origin, and containing a threat where it starts costs much less – in lives and resources – than fighting a pandemic after it has already spread across all continents.
“A virus that continues to circulate anywhere will eventually reach everyone. There is yet another reason why equity is important: predictability. Today, the rules for accessing pathogens and sharing the benefits arising from that access are defined improvisedly, case by case, often in the midst of crises. PABS replaces this uncertainty with a single framework, with previously known and stable rules, allowing laboratories and partners around the world to act at the speed required by an outbreak. Legal certainty does not compete with equity; it allows equity works.
“We ask that you ensure that equity is present in the operational details of the annex, and not just in its preamble, so that benefit sharing is ensured in practice.
“Third, a sense of urgency. The next pandemic will not wait for us. Scientists estimate that there is almost a 1 in 4 chance that a new pandemic will occur in the next decade, and the foundations of many of our old certainties are changing.
“Climate change, land use transformation and changes in agriculture are altering the map of regions where dangerous pathogens emerge. The comfortable belief that outbreaks only start in distant locations no longer corresponds to reality. The next outbreaks could emerge in your own country or nearby.
“At the same time, advances in biotechnology, unevenly accompanied by biosafety measures, increase the risk of accidental or deliberate releases of biological agents. None of these risks respect borders.
“Therefore, we ask that you treat July 17th as a deadline, and not just as a stage in the process, and that you affirm it publicly, sending an unequivocal signal to negotiators and the world that this will be the round in which the work will be completed.
“We already know the price of lack of preparation. The last pandemic caused human losses on an extraordinary scale, with estimates from the WHO and other institutions pointing to up to 20 million deaths. The International Monetary Fund estimates that it cost the world economy more than US$13 trillion in lost production, a loss felt in all countries through closed companies, interrupted supply chains and a generation marked by the interruption of studies.
“In light of this, the investment in a system capable of identifying outbreaks early is small. As we write these words, an Ebola outbreak is being fought in 2 countries, with no approved vaccine and no curative treatment available, by professionals who risk their own lives to protect strangers. This is not a distant abstraction. It is happening now.
“Every month that this annex remains uncompleted is a month in which the world is less prepared than it could be and in which people are less protected than they deserve.
“The nations of the world have stood together at every major milestone in the history of global health. Together, we helped eradicate smallpox. We brought polio to the brink of extinction. We reversed the spread of HIV, tuberculosis and malaria, and in doing so, we helped save more lives than any of us will be able to count.
“Concluding this agreement does not represent a break with this legacy. It is the next natural chapter of this trajectory, and it is within our reach.
“We made a promise to the millions we lost and to the families who still bear their absence. May we be the generation that will fulfill that promise. Completing this agreement, through a shared commitment among all of us, is our collective promise to protect humanity.
“We will fulfill it, together and on time.
“With respect and in the name of the common cause of protecting human life.
“Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, President of the Federative Republic of Brazil
“Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO”
