International negotiations on a World Health Organization (WHO) pandemic agreement ended on Friday after two years without consensus for the time being.
The 194 member states of the UN organization had set themselves the goal of adopting the pact next week in Geneva at the WHO's annual meeting.
The agreement should prevent global chaos such as the coronavirus pandemic and ensure that all countries are supplied with all the necessary protective material, medicines and vaccines in good time.
However, diplomats from various countries and WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed optimism that work on the agreement could continue in future.
The co-chair of the negotiating body, Roland Driece from the Netherlands, expressed the hope that it would be possible to reach an agreement "in the years to come."
"This is not a failure," WHO chief Tedros told the delegates in Geneva on Friday evening. "You have really done a lot, you have progressed a lot." Now it is time to learn the lessons from the negotiations so far and move on, he added.
Aid organizations and poorer countries fear that the treaty will not guarantee supplies for the most vulnerable.
In richer countries, there was resistance from the pharmaceutical industry and from critics who falsely claimed that the WHO wanted to decide on lockdowns or compulsory vaccination in the event of a pandemic.
There was disagreement on the topics of pandemic prevention and funding. For example, the extent to which medicines or vaccines should be made available free of charge or at favourable prices for poorer countries was disputed.
According to WHO estimates, up to 20 million people have died as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and almost everyone in the world has been affected by the effects of the virus in some way, said Tedros.
"The world still needs a pandemic treaty and the world needs to be prepared," he emphasized.