GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — Negotiations on a landmark global agreement on handling future pandemics ended Friday without a deal — though countries said they wanted to keep pushing for an accord.

Scarred by the devastation caused by Covid-19 — which killed millions of people, shredded economies and crippled health systems — countries have spent two years trying to hammer out binding commitments on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.

The talks gathered momentum in the final weeks, but failed to meet a final deadline before next week’s World Health Assembly — the annual gathering of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) 194 member states.

“This is not a failure,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus insisted as the talks ended at the United Nations health agency’s headquarters in Geneva.

He urged countries to see it as a “good opportunity to re-energize.”

“The world still needs a pandemic treaty and the world needs to be prepared,” he commented.

The assembly, which runs from Monday until 1 June, will take stock and decide what to do next.