Distinguished guests and colleagues,
Mayor Ron Huldai
It gives me great pleasure to welcome you all here tonight, for the opening reception of the 72nd session of the WHO/Europe Regional Conference.
Speaking entirely objectively, of course, Tel Aviv is a great choice of venue!
Israel is my home and Tel Aviv is my home city. So I am honored to invite you all to make yourselves at home and enjoy this beautiful city.
I hope that, while you are here, you will be able to take advantage of the opportunity to experience this city and this country. It is not very big, you know, but extremely reach in history and culture.
You’ll find out that Israelis are not formal at all, and very friendly. So meet our people, Tour our historic sights, have some great food, and hopefully enjoy the beach and the excellent weather!
Over the coming days, we will all have the opportunity to meet and catch up with one another in person, a privilege these past two years taught us that we can no longer take for granted. Finally we are all here, physically, so we should not miss the opportunity.
I am looking forward to meet and reconnect with friends and colleagues, to learn from shared experiences and discussing new ways to cooperate.
I see importance in international collaboration, our world is interconnected, our challenges are similar, and we must face them together.
This year’s session is filled with topics of great importance in advancing health and well-being of our respective peoples and our shared region as a whole.
It is up to us all to rededicate our efforts to achieve a universal healthcare that is truly universal. To ensure that everyone is cared for, regardless of economic or personal status, every person must receive adequate treatment. “Leave no one behind!”.
This is the reason that we are all here together now.
I would like to thank my friends and colleagues in the WHO and WHO/Europe for their work in making this year’s session a reality, and for their noble and tireless efforts in advancing global health and well-being.
Welcome, everybody! I wish you all an enjoyable evening and a productive conference.