On the 13th and 14th of May, Caucus member Hon. Chico D’Angelo, from Brazil, visited Hon. Gisela Scaglia in Buenos Aires for a G20 agenda on TB. During the two days, they discussed mainly the G20 Leaders’ Declaration, and its language, considering the importance of the G20 to achieve the global commitments made to end the TB epidemic.
This was also an opportunity to meet with the G20 Sherpa team at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and to agree common strategies to keep moving forward on what the G20 has already achieved to end TB. Indeed, the disease is still a health issue in the Americas and has a very high economic impact on the continent.
The delegation also met with MP Alicia Terrada, Chair of the Friendship Group Argentina-Japan, who committed to sharing the language proposal for the G20 Declaration with Japanese MPs who are members of the group from the Japanese side, and with the Ambassador of Japan in Argentina.
This trip was also an opportunity to work closely with the G20 Health Working Group, in the Ministry of Health. They informed the delegation on this year’s health priorities which will be more related to Universal Coverage from a finance perspective. Issues like Issues like AMR will still be in the agenda, but there isn’t much focus or further commitments so far.
The Caucus provided suggestions for the draft of the Heads of State Communique and requested the Health Working Group and the Sherpa team for their support in promoting the language and making sure that the commitments made during Argentina’s presidency aren’t lost.