Muscat, September 30: Oman has called for more global investment in medical research to confront epidemics such as H1N1, the benefits from which, it said, should be made available to all countries. It also underlined that drug manufacturers must not be allowed to wield monopoly over medicines developed through such research.
“While we commend the efforts undertaken by the World Health Organisation and the United Nations specialised agencies and countries to address the so-called epidemic of swine flu, we hope that the international community would allocate more resources to invest in research and pharmaceutical industries,” Minister Responsible for Foreign Affairs Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdallah said.
He was addressing the 64th session of the UN General Assembly in New York on Monday. “Pharmaceutical companies should not have a monopoly over any medication derived from this research and should be made accessible to all and especially the poor and developing countries,” he added.
The Sultanate is currently battling an outbreak of H1N1. At least 21 people have so far died due to the disease in the country and the number of people tested positive is some 1,700. The government has concluded agreements with a number of international companies to purchase vaccines against the virus, the first consignment of which is expected here by the middle of October.
UN General Assembly Tackling political issues, Abdallah called for removal of all the ‘illegal and illegitimate’ Israeli settlements in the occupied territories. This, he said, would help achieve ‘peaceful coexistence and positive cooperation’ between Arabs and Israelis and contribute to opening new horizons of development in the region.
“We believe that the Arab peace initiative and the international peace efforts are the most appropriate way to settle the Arab-Israeli conflict on the basis of ending occupation, the return of Arab lands occupied since 1967, the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the West Bank and Gaza Strip with East Jerusalem as its capital and the removal of all the illegal and illegitimate Israeli settlements,” Abdallah said.
“Peace, based on these principles, will be one of the most important gains of the people of the region which would lead towards ending regional crisis and eradicating the root causes of terrorism,” he added, noting that squandering this opportunity by Israel would constitute a grave loss for the Israeli people.
–Agencies