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Secretary Thompson endorsed "The Ottawa Plan," which calls for forging "a new partnership to address the critical issues of protecting public health and security."

"Diseases used in a bioterrorist attack do not respect national borders," Secretary Thompson said. "We are reaffirming today our nations' commitments to work together to strengthen our public-health readiness and response to bioterrorism. We must maximize our collective resources and expertise to improve our health security - nationally, regionally and globally."

Canadian Minister of Health Allan Rock hosted the ministers today for a four-hour discussion of public health and readiness issues, which have gained prominence since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States and the subsequent cases of anthrax infection.

Others involved include: John Hutton, Minister of State for Health, United Kingdom; Bernard Kouchner, Minister of Health, France; Dr. Julio Frenk, Secretary of Health, Mexico; Klaus Theo Schr�der, Vice Minister of Health, Germany; Jungoro Kondo, Vice Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare, Japan; and Dr. David Heymann, executive director of the World Health Organization (WHO) Program on Communicable Diseases.

Following the attacks, Secretary Thompson contacted health ministers from throughout the world to discuss ways of cooperating to protect their countries' citizens from bioterrorism.

The countries supporting the Ottawa Plan, drafted by Canada, agreed in principle to:

• explore joint cooperation in procuring vaccines and antibiotics;
• engage in a constructive dialogue regarding regulatory frameworks for the development of vaccines and in particular smallpox vaccines;
• further support the World Health Organization disease surveillance network and WHO's efforts to develop a coordinated strategy for disease outbreak containment;
• share emergency preparedness and response plans, including contact lists, and consider joint training and planning;
• improve linkages to Level-Four laboratories in those countries which have them;
• undertake close cooperation on preparedness and response to radio-nuclear events; and
• share surveillance data from national public health laboratories and information on real or threatened contamination of food supplies, along with information on risk mitigation strategies to ensure safe food supplies.

Each of the countries agreed to designate a senior official to be the point person to pursue the cooperative efforts.

"The Ottawa Plan underscores the urgent need to strengthen public-health preparedness," Secretary Thompson said. "Most importantly, it provides countries with a framework to move forward on concrete action."

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