The Regional Committee,
Noting the Regional Director's objective, expressed WHO in the Western Pacific Region: a framework for action,* to make sessions of the Regional Committee more outcome-oriented and less formal;
Recalling resolution WPR/RC48.R6, which requested the Regional Director to continue to hold technical briefings in conjunction with the Regional Committee;
Noting that ministerial round tables can contribute to achieving the Regional Director's goal of making sessions of the Regional Committee more participatory;
Noting further that the lasting value of ministerial round tables would be enhanced if they became a part of sessions of the Regional Committee;
Recognizing that the ministerial round table at the fiftieth session of the Regional Committee provided many valuable insights for both Member States and WHO;
- CONGRATULATES the Regional Director on the arrangements at the ministerial round table;
- DECIDES:
- (1) to make ministerial round tables a regular agenda item at sessions of the Regional Committee;
- (2) to discontinue technical briefings with effect from the fifty-first session of the Regional Committee;
- REQUESTS the Regional Committee:
- (1) to make further reforms to the method of work of the Regional Committee to make the meetings less formal and more interactive and to establish a working group to make recommendations in this regard;
- (2) to circulate the findings of this working group to Members of the Regional Committee before its fifty-first session;
- (3) to arrange ministerial round tables on topics of contemporary relevance as a part of future sessions of the Regional Committee;
- AUTHORIZES the Regional Director to implement the recommendations of the working group at the fifty-first session of the Regional Committee, bearing in mind comments received from Members prior to the session.