A year after India and South Africa introduced a proposal to temporarily waive intellectual property rights on COVID-19 vaccines and therapies at the WTO, negotiations are deadlocked in the face of opposition from some developed countries.
Shyamal Misra, a senior official at the Ministry of Commerce, said India would not just be speaking for itself at the WTO ministerial conference in Geneva starting on Nov. 30, but for other developing countries with which it is working closely.
“We expect that the interests of developing countries are not compromised,” Mr Misra told an event late on Thursday to discuss India’s strategy.
India has alleged that developed countries, led by the European Union, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, were “preventing access to vaccines for poor countries,” leading to loss of lives.
Switzerland’s ambassador to the WTO Didier Chambovey said on Thursday the country was open to compromise but remained opposed to a full waiver.
WTO members at a meeting of the Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) last week, agreed to continue negotiations until the start of the ministerial conference to seek a solution.
