The text outlines practical ways for governments to suspend patent rights under certain conditions and allow for the diversification of vaccine production against the new coronavirus.
On the second day of the regular session of the WTO General Council, member states welcomed the proposal, which they saw as a positive development, the organization reported on its website.
Members also thanked Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Deputy Director-General Anabel González, as well as the four members in charge of preparing the text “for their efforts to find a way out of this lengthy affair. “Weather”.
For his part, Okonjo-Iweala thanked the delegations for the “constructive spirit” shown during the General Council meeting.
“For me it’s quite amazing. There’s still a lot to do but I think if we focus on it we can do it,” he said.
After more than a year of stagnation of debates on the issue in the Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), the text was shared by its President, Ambassador Lansana Gberie.
The delegations had the opportunity to express their first views on the proposal at a formal meeting of the TRIPS Council on 6 May.
While acknowledging that the proposal provides a solid foundation, they asked for more time to review the document internally before engaging in substantive discussions. Among the issues discussed is which members may benefit from the new proposal.
In particular, China stated that it will not benefit from the flexibilities in the text unless “language is used that opens up the benefits of the exemption to all developing members while encouraging those with the ability to export vaccines to choose not to.” .
Other members opposed a second option, which would limit eligibility to developing countries, which exported more than 10 percent of the world’s vaccine doses in 2021.
Gberie urged members to work towards a final outcome of the text before the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference on June 12-15.
During the day, the issue of food security and the impact of the crisis in Ukraine was also raised.
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