• Posted 06-Dec-2021

The EU and Turkey discuss health matters of mutual interest and future cooperation

The European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Stella Kyriakides, and the Turkish Minister of Health, Fahrettin Koca, met virtually for the first meeting of the EU-Turkey High-Level Dialogue on public health.

Serious threats to health, such as those due to infectious disease outbreaks or environmental factors, do not respect borders and require increased cross-border cooperation and coordination at the global level, as recently shown by the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the past months, both the EU and Turkey have experienced significant impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on their societies and their health systems.

In this context, Commissioner Kyriakides and Minister Koca exchanged views on how to enhance cooperation between the EU and Turkey on cross-border health threats as a clear priority, including in the short-term in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Issues related to the impact of climate change on public health also featured high on the agenda of the meeting, along with the EU's and Turkey's approaches to cancer prevention, treatment and care.

Contacts will now continue at technical level between the European Commission and Turkey. The Commissioner and Minister agreed to take stock of the discussions and to continue to pursue their dialogue in 2022 with a view to bringing the European Union and Turkey closer in the area of health.

Source: European Commission I Press corner (https://bit.ly/3pz2wPw)