Global Citizen cautiously welcomes the priorities outlined by Chancellor Angela Merkel in a speech to Parliament Thursday.

In particular, we are pleased to see her affirmation that civil society - including Global Citizen - have played an important role in setting the G20 agenda.

Since launching our G20 campaigning last December, Global Citizens have taken more than 600,000 actions demanding that leaders deliver on their promises and obligations through the G20, calling for concrete commitments and prioritisation of health, education, famine and gender equality on the agenda.

Chancellor Merkel is right to argue, as she did yesterday, that closer international cooperation on global health is necessary in order to “better protect ourselves against global health risks, especially pandemics that know no boundaries and can have enormous human and economic consequences for the entire world.”

Global Citizen believes that the inclusion of global health on the G20 agenda is a vital move, as only through greater cooperation can we prepare for threats such as future pandemics.

Global Citizen calls on all G20 countries to ensure strong language on health is included in the final communique, and that out this, concrete steps are taken on pandemic preparedness and health systems strengthening.

Global Citizen also welcomes the references made by Chancellor Merkel to improving education, especially for women, and for increasing cooperation with Africa.

However, these positive words will mean nothing without concrete action and commitments.

Global Citizen calls on the G20 to include bold language in the final communique on these topics, heeding the more than 600,000 actions from citizens around the world. This includes for instance explicit support for the Global Partnership for Education campaign to raise USD$3.1bn for its replenishment.