Pandemic agreement talks come to the crunch

GENEVA, Switzerland — Countries trying to thrash out a global agreement on handling future pandemics are hoping to seal the deal Friday after weeks of creeping progress in exhausting talks.

Having ploughed past several previous deadlines, the hard stop of next week's annual gathering of the World Health Organization's 194 member states is now in clear sight.

Scarred by the devastation caused by Covid-19 -- which killed millions, shredded economies and crippled health systems -- WHO member countries have spent two years trying to hammer out binding commitments on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.

The bureau steering the talks must report back to the World Health Assembly -- the WHO's supreme decision-making body -- regardless of whether or not they have a finalised text for the assembly to consider.

Amid arm-twisting, horse-trading and 3:00 am finishes in recent weeks, the talks have gathered momentum.

However, with much ground left to cover, breaking the remaining logjams by the end of Friday seems a long shot.

"The fact that we're still making progress shows people are willing to push further. And there's a sense that even if we can't conclude, we will reach the World Health Assembly with something concise," one ambassador in the talks told AFP.

The talks are being held behind closed doors at the WHO's headquarters in Geneva.

One source in the room said negotiators were optimistic, and could see the finishing line and a way to get there.

"The mood in the room: you see it, you feel it, people wanting to get onto the next thing," the source said.

But civil society groups following the talks from outside the hall seemed less positive.

"They are negotiating, enthusiastically fighting for a speedy conclusion -- but it's not happening," K. M. Gopakumar, senior researcher with the Third World Network, told AFP.

Giving the talks very little chance of successfully concluding on time, he said he thought countries would likely press for discussions to continue.

Others suggested countries might opt to present the assembly with a skeleton deal and show agreement in principle.

The assembly could then call for the process to pick up and carry on later in the