The World Trade Organization’s (WTO) 12th Ministerial Conference is underway in Geneva with Kazakhstan as the chair. A confident and buoyant Bharat has taken upon itself to strongly and ably represent the cause of developing and poor nations. With the clarity that we as a nation want to be part of the solution and not the problem, India will strongly pitch for some of the developed nations to agree on a real TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) waiver.
With nearly 80 nations, including India and South Africa, along with Pope Francis, supporting the issue, there is a strong demand to end the vaccine hegemony of the big pharma.
The response to the Covid-19 pandemic is one of the priority items at the WTO MC 12.
• India has concerns on additional ‘permanent’ disciplines in the WTO agreements to respond to the pandemic. India does not want to conflate the challenges of the pandemic to areas such as market access, reforms, export restrictions, and transparency. India wants that the WTO response addresses the supply side constraints for the WTO’s response to the pandemic and outcomes be credible.
• Regarding the intellectual property, India seeks: (i) a recognition of the difficulties faced by developing countries and LDCs (Least Developed Countries) in utilising TRIPS flexibilities to address the Covid-19 pandemic, and (ii) a reaffirmation of the TRIPS waiver decision under the responses’ declaration.
• Certain developed countries (EU, US, UK, Canada) are seeking to include elements pertaining to limiting the scope for export restrictions, seeking permanent disciplines with respect to trade facilitation measures, increased market access and limiting the scope for TRIPS waiver. On other hand, developing nations (South Africa, ACP group, Sri Lanka, Egypt, Tunisia, Uganda, Jamaica) want the WTO response to address issues with respect to the supply side constraints, increased access for services, such as healthcare and related services namely ICT, flexibilities with respect to export control measures, food security and limiting the scope for any additional disciplines.
• The primary focus of WTO’s response to the pandemic should be to address the challenges posed by the current pandemic, including Intellectual Property (IP) challenges in augmenting supply production.
The Covid-19 pandemic was a lesson, and many including Mark Suzman of the Gates Foundation believe that the world needs to be ready for a few more pandemics in the coming years.
The WTO is a platform where a consensus can be built that nations must put people first. Developing and poor countries, which account for the bulk of the world’s population should not be denied access to medicines and vaccines. They must be allowed to manufacture vaccines and medicines critical to save their lives without the patenting and licensing costs.
India is open to working out a middle path, being considerate of the Big Pharma and their bottomline, but nations cannot be allowed to get away with stockpiling vaccines and bowing down to the Big Pharma lobby and blocking access to vital drugs that will save lives. The real TRIPS waiver is important to protect humanity from future pandemics. Much hinges upon the attitude and approach of developed nations and the Big Pharma lobby towards this issue. Bharat is hopeful that it can influence a step in the positive direction.
We, as a nation, have helped scores of nations vaccinate their people under the Vaccine Maitri initiative. India has also stepped up to help nations during the first wave of Covid-19 because of which it was able to convince America and other nations to ensure critical supplies that will enable it to manufacture vaccines. If there is a headway on this front, then the outcome of the 12th conference is likely to be constructive and result driven.
The WTO under the current leadership needs to prove that it is driven by the tenets of equality and justice to the developing nations. It needs to show by action that a select few nations and powerful lobbies will not jeopardise the fate of more than 2/3rd of the world’s population. The 12th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC12) is happening after a gap of almost five years, as the MC11 took place at Buenos Aires in December 2017. Due to this unusual gap, there is a considerable expectation and pressure to achieve concrete results at MC12 to showcase that WTO still matters and can deliver.
India, who is a founding member of the WTO since January 1, 1995 and a member of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) since July 8, 1948, believes in a transparent and inclusive multilateral trading system. Bharat is committed to working to strengthen the WTO. And in the interest of the developing and poorer nations, there is a need to preserve the basic principles of the WTO, including non-discrimination, consensus-based decision making and special and differential treatment to the developing countries. By setting the tone and the agenda for MC12 at WTO, Bharat has made a strong pitch for the rights of developing and poorer nations.
If nations cannot choose humanity over profits in a global challenge like the pandemic, how can there be collaboration on ‘EQUAL’ terms on other issues? The ‘Broken Chair’ outside the United Nations in Geneva is symbolic of the inability of the UN to ensure civilians don’t bear the cost of war. It is also symbolic of the world body’s inability to ensure equality and justice to all.
If the developed nations and Big Pharma are unable to give up their zeal for profits and end vaccine and medicine hegemony for the future pandemic, there, perhaps will have to be another ‘Broken Chair’ installed outside the WTO. Bharat along with 80-plus other nations are doing their bit to end the ‘Vaccine Apartheid’. Onus now on the rest.
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