Statement by President von der Leyen at the joint press conference with other leaders, organised by the WHO, on the call for global action against the coronavirus

I am proud of sharing the screen today with our partners worldwide, to deliver a message of hope. Hope that we can defeat coronavirus together. And that we can go back to our normal lives, sooner rather than later.

I warmly welcome today’s call for global action, and we are ready to respond. Indeed, in just 10 days, on 4 May, we will launch a global pledging effort. On that day, we will also announce next milestones of a global campaign. This campaign is to kick off an ongoing rolling replenishment.

The aim is to raise EUR 7.5 billion to ramp up work on prevention, diagnostics and treatment. This is a first step only, but more will be needed in the future. Because beating coronavirus will require sustained actions on many fronts.

We need to develop a vaccine. We need to produce it and to deploy it to every single corner of the world. And make it available at affordable prices. This vaccine will be our universal, common good.

I want to invite everyone – governments, business leaders, philanthropists, artists and citizens – to raise awareness about the pledging effort. And to help us create a united front against coronavirus.

The European Union will spare no effort to help the world come together against coronavirus.

Because united we will make history with a global response to the global pandemic.