Last tweaks being made to covid IP deal: WTO chief

Reuters

GENEVA: The negotiations on an intellectual property (IP) deal for covid-19 vaccines were ongoing between the US, the EU, India, and South Africa, World Trade Organization (WTO) directorgeneral Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said on Thursday. The organisation is striving to ensure agreement on the proposal’s final terms, Okonjo-Iweala said.

Pressure from civil society groups has been rising for the four parties, the US, the EU, India, and South Africa, to walk away from the deal, since the draft compromise emerged in the media about a month ago. Some public figures, such as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, have also criticised it, saying it is too narrowly focused on vaccines.

“People are saying the text is now being rejected. It is not true,” Okonjo-Iweala said over telephone. She said that they are “still trying to iron out the last things. It’s tweaks”.

Okonjo-Iweala, who took over the top job a year ago with a mandate to reinvigorate the 27-year-old institution, has been brokering the talks for a few months to break a year-long stalemate at the WTO.

India and South Africa, backed by dozens of other WTO members, had proposed a broad waiver of IP rights for covid-19 drugs and vaccines, but failed to overcome opposition from

just

the

last few members such as Britain and Switzerland who argued that pharmaceutical research required such protections.

The compromise proposal that Okonjo-Iweala referred to, if finalised among the four negotiators, still needs to be presented to all 164 WTO members who hold a veto. No date has yet been fixed for that meeting.

Okonjo-Iweala also said she plans to meet US trade representative Katherine Tai next week.

AFP The negotiations on an intellectual property deal for covid jabs are ongoing between the US, the EU, India, and South Africa.