Excellencies, Ministers, Parliamentarians, distinguished guests and colleagues, ladies and gentlemen:
It is an honour to host this important event and my pleasure to welcome you to the WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific.
Looking around this room, one cannot help but comment on how this is truly an exceptional meeting.
Indeed, this gathering of leaders representing a wide range of fields – health, finance, foreign affairs, the academe, civil society, the UN system, the development banks, NGOs --- shows the strong support and the urgency of achieving Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5.
In particular, I would like to acknowledge the distinguished Ministers who have travelled a long distance to be here.
I know the sacrifices they made to be here as I am certain there are many pressing matters in their own countries.
Their presence here today tells us that the work of the Partnership is very very important.
Their presence here today tells us that the work of the Partnership is critical to the progress in their own countries.
In this sense, this gathering brings hope.
Hope for every woman and child whose health we must protect.
And at outset I would like to state WHO's strong support for the spirit and the work of this Partnership that is dedicated to improving the health of women and children in this region and beyond.
Much progress has been made over the past few years
Many countries present here have achieved a two-thirds reduction in under-five and maternal mortality.
But we still have a long way to go.
In many countries mothers are still dying due to pregnancy-related causes. Under-five mortality levels are still unacceptable in some parts of the world.
What's more, progress in meeting the needs of women and children is uneven between and within countries.
In some countries, for example, the rich have 30 times better access to safe delivery care than the poor.
Over the next two days, our dialogue and discussions will give a final push towards meeting the MDG deadline of 2015.
Financing will be crucial to fulfilling MDG targets – which means that finance ministers will play a major role in focusing resources on women and children's health.
At present, governments and development partners chronically underfund health programmes for women and children – even though these programmes have been shown to have high economic returns.
From finance ministers to prime ministers and presidents, we must match our political commitment with resources that can make a difference in the lives of every woman and every child.
We need to strengthen our advocacy for achieving universal access to quality services.
We need to scale up effective interventions.
We need bold national agendas for women's and children's health.
And above all, to move forward, we need to be accountable – to all our colleagues around the table and to every woman and child whose life depends on our collective action.
I believe that all of us in this room today appreciate and affirm each others work.
I believe this Partnership has made possible what may have looked impossible in 2005 when it started.
The Partnership has been able to mobilize different leaders, agencies, organizations and sectors covering a wide range of interests to come together and take action urgently, on our shared vision for a healthier future.
Seeing what the Partnership has achieved so far, and knowing what we want to achieve in 2015, we have reason for hope.
There are a few more years to go before we reach 2015.
But if we pull our efforts together, we can achieve the impossible.
I would like to thank and congratulate the Partnership of Maternal, Newborn and Child Health for taking the lead in organizing this event.
I believe we should offer a round of applause.
The Western Pacific Regional Office is delighted to host you.
On a personal note, I hope that you will enjoy the facilities and the compound.
The office was established in the 1950's and used to be the centre of the city.
Over the years, this has changed and the city has become quite crowded.
A few years ago, the hall we occupy today was destroyed by floods that affected the entire Metropolitan Manila.
We have since then renovated the place and hope that this will be conducive for the hard work ahead.
I look forward to hearing about the progress of the meeting and again reiterate the strong support of WHO to the work of the Partnership.
Thank you and good morning.