As WTO summit enters final day, India attempts to reach an agreement on vaccine patent waivers opposing agri-talks



According to officials, India is still attempting to build consensus among member nations as the fifth and final day of the biennial World Trade Organization (WTO) summit begins.

Senior officials tracking the developments told that certain compromises may be required for the proposed global Covid vaccine intellectual property rights waiver deal to go into effect as soon as possible. 

However, discussions on agriculture and fisheries have stalled because New Delhi opposes the positions taken by most developed economies, which deny equitable measures to the developing world, they added.

The once-every-two-year mega meeting of trade ministers from all 164 World Trade Organization (WTO) member countries, which legislate on global trade, is currently underway and has seen tense discussions on almost every issue.

However, because member countries are unable to reach an agreement on almost all key issues, the WTO’s 12th biennial summit has been postponed. It will now conclude on June 16, with the closing session beginning at 6:30 PM Indian Standard Time on Thursday, following an intervention by WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

The WTO Director-General urged member countries to go above and beyond to reach agreement on the various issues at stake at the 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12), noting that time is running out to reach meaningful agreements.

Almost all major economies are keeping a close eye on India’s stance on the issue because every WTO decision is made unanimously, and even a single dissenting voice can derail the entire process.

Vaccine patent waiver

Talks on speeding up deliveries of Covid vaccines, drugs and therapeutics to the poorest nations has seen some progress, albeit not in the direction that India wanted, officials said.

Nearly 20 months after India proposed temporarily suspending certain parts of the World Trade Organization’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) in order to facilitate the sharing of COVID-19 vaccines and testing technology, developed nations have continued to hold talks.

Suspending parts of the agreement would allow countries to overcome the legal challenges posed by patents to ensure the timely provisioning of affordable medical products. At MC12, the developed nations have been allowed to cover only vaccines as part of the agreement and leave out all other treatments, diagnostics, or other COVID-19 technologies.

The draft text is seen by opponents as too narrow in scope because reports from the WTO headquarters in Geneva have suggested that the latest text focuses solely on the use of the compulsory licensing system. This would allow governments to permit the manufacture of vaccines and other medicines without infringement of intellectual property (IP) rights during an emergency such as a pandemic.

Officials said India remains committed to the issue as the nation which had originally proposed the idea. “There is a sense that some dissenting nations may become amenable to our demands and allow other diagnostics and tech if certain provisions were added to specify which categories would be covered rather than an umbrella agreement,” a senior official said.

Slow progress

Fisheries subsidies and agriculture have emerged as especially hard points of negotiation. A long-planned, but never enforced global deal at the WTO aimed at banning fishing subsidies to protect marine ecosystems from overfishing and habitat collapse has seen increased fighting. Overwhelmingly statements made by members stressed the need to conclude an agreement after more than 20 years of discussions.

According to India, developed nations with massive industrial fleets of vessels that have systematically exploited oceanic resources and contributed to overfishing should be held accountable, and a stronger global regime should be imposed to rein them in.

On the third day of the summit, a proposed global declaration to not curb foodgrain exports to the World Food Programme (WFP), which seeks to fight hunger in places hit by conflicts, disasters, and climate change, is one of the main items on the agenda. The declaration will be binding and goes against the demands of India to exercise its right to control its food exports.

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Dr. Kirti Sisodhia

Content Writer

CATEGORIES Business Agriculture Technology Environment Health Education

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