Negotiations deadlocked against the objections of some developed countries (File)
New Delhi:
India will lead a request to give up intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines and supplies at the World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting next week, two government officials said.
A year after India and South Africa proposed to temporarily give up intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines and therapies at the WTO, negotiations are deadlocked in the face of objections from some countries. develop.
Shyamal Misra, a senior official at the Ministry of Commerce, said that India will not only speak for itself at the WTO ministerial conference in Geneva starting on November 30, but also for developing countries. with whom they are working closely.
“We expect that the interests of developing countries will not be harmed,” Misra said at an event late on Thursday to discuss India’s strategy.
India alleges that developed countries, led by the European Union, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, have “barred access to vaccines for poor countries”, resulting in loss of life.
Switzerland’s ambassador to the WTO Didier Chambovey on Thursday said the country was ready to compromise but remained opposed to giving up altogether.
WTO members, at the Council meeting on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) last week, agreed to continue negotiations until the start of the ministerial meeting to look for solutions.
Another senior government official, who accompanied Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal at the meeting, told Reuters on Friday the country would push for a fair and equal deal.
Developed countries need to understand that for the sake of some pharmaceutical companies, they cannot put the lives of people in developing countries at risk, he said.
“All eyes are on a positive outcome,” said Sachin Chaturvedi, a government adviser and head of Research and Information Systems for Developing Countries (RIS) based in Delhi.
Citing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with G20 leaders last month, he said India will produce more than 5 billion doses of the COVID vaccine for the country and the world by the end of 2022.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an aggregated feed.)
