US embassy cable - 05PARIS6191

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 006191 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR G, OES, OES/HA, EUR, EUR/WE; HHS FOR INTL 
STEIGER/BUDASHEWITZ 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, TBIO, FR 
SUBJECT: AVIAN FLU: INVITING FRANCE TO AN INTERNATIONAL 
PARTNERSHIP - FRENCH HESITATE 
 
REF: SECSTATE 162129 
 
1. (SBU)  Summary: On September 8, Ambassador met with Health 
Minister to press the French to pursue, together with the 
United States, a leadership role in the International 
Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza.  While the 
Minister agreed that avian flu preparedness required 
concerted international effort, spoke highly of the 
U.S.-French health relationship, and had no reservations 
about the core principles of the partnership, he did not 
explicitly agree that France will participate.  The Minister 
posed a number of questions regarding U.S. pandemic 
preparedness and Gilead and La Roche, patent-holder and 
manufacturer and distributer, respectively, of 'Tamiflu.' End 
Summary. 
 
2.  (U)  The Ambassador accompanied by Economic Affairs 
Minister Counselor and Science Counselor met with Health 
Minister Xavier Bertrand, members of his cabinet, including 
diplomatic counselor Jean-Michel Linois, and the new 
interministerial coordinator for avian flu, Professor Didier 
Houssin, to seek French concurrence with the initiative to 
create a partnership of countries to address avian influenza 
preparedness.  The Ambassador highlighted the longstanding 
and excellent U.S.-French health relationship and the need 
for countries to work together to combat what could become a 
devastating pandemic.  A partnership of like-minded nations, 
he said, could plan together to prevent an outbreak from 
becoming a worldwide catastrophe. 
 
3.  (SBU) The Minister replied that an influenza pandemic 
constituted a "true risk."  In the three months since he 
became Minister, pandemic preparedness had consumed much of 
his time.  While he considered that France and the United 
States saw the problem in the same way and desired to be 
proactive on the subject, insufficient capacity existed 
worldwide to respond to a major outbreak.  According to the 
Minister, "If an outbreak were to occur this year, we'd not 
be ready."  Dr. Houssin, the interministerial avian flu 
coordinator, said that "a partnership could serve a useful 
purpose," particularly since the World Health Organization 
"could not do everything."  However, the proposed 
partnership's relationship to the World Health Organization 
needed clarification.  He added that at a recent 'Kuala 
Lumpur meeting' there was a call for donor assistance to 
prepare for a pandemic, especially in regard to building 
capacity for reacting to an outbreak.  The Ambassador 
responded that a goal of the proposed partnership was to 
develop a strategy so that any outbreak did not get 
out-of-hand in the first place.  The partnership could serve 
to provide overarching strategic guidance.  He added that the 
partnership's ideas were not yet set in concrete; different 
countries can bring their best ideas to the group and the 
U.S. is very open to French thinking.  The U.S. side quoted 
from the IPAPI core principles reinforcing this point. 
 
4.  (SBU)  The Minister asked about the situation in the U.S, 
wanting to know in particular on what basis the Centers for 
Disease Control had concluded that a human-to-human H5N1 
viral outbreak would occur in the next 12 to 24 months.  He 
said that many felt that it was not a question of "if (there 
were to be an outbreak) but when."  He said that French 
experts thought it highly likely that Southeast Asia would be 
where the outbreak would occur.  He wondered what the United 
States might do to help Southeast Asians whose flocks of 
domestic birds might be destroyed, saying that there is 
discussion on this topic at the EU level.  The Minister also 
asked about the Gilead - La Roche relationship and expressed 
personal concern that only one company manufactured the 
medicine Tamiflu.  To all these questions, the U.S. side 
argued that a partnership of aware and concerned nations 
could most effectively coordinate resources and responses. 
The Minister concluded the meeting underscoring the need to 
prepare against a pandemic, noting that no one country can 
possibly do it alone. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
5.  (SBU) The Health Minister avoided providing either an 
affirmative or negative response to whether France would 
subscribe to the proposed avian flu partnership.  We are not 
sure why.  (Foreign Ministry and Health officials had told 
ESTH counselor in previous meetings that the French 
government thought the core principles of the IPAPI were 
fine, posing no objections.)  It could be that the French 
themselves plan to roll out an initiative on avian flu at 
UNGA and consequently felt it premature to respond to the 
IPAPI initiative now.  Or, less conspiratorially, they may 
simply want greater detail and reassurances regarding how the 
partnership will work.  For example, in a separate meeting 
between ESTH counselor and the new interministerial delegate 
for avian flu coordination in France, the latter repeatedly 
asked why IPAPI was not on the agenda for the upcoming 
meeting in Mexico of the Global Health Security Action Group 
(GHSAG).  Argumentation that the partnership was a completely 
different way to tackle pandemic preparedness and that the 
concept for the partnership was brand new apparently fell on 
deaf ears.)  The Embassy would be pleased to provide Minister 
Bertrand a short paper on U.S. preparedness measures to date 
with information regarding Tamiflu stockpiling. 
STAPLETON