WTO Council discusses India call for ministers' virtual meet on Covid-19

DG calls for urgent need for multilateral outcome on IP waiver and other issues

The World Trade Organization’s (WTO's) General Council on Monday discussed India's call to convene a virtual ministerial meeting on the multilateral body’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The development comes weeks after India sent a letter to the multilateral body’s General Council Chair, calling for a virtual ministerial meeting on the issue of the WTO’s response to the pandemic, including the proposal to temporarily waive some sections of the Trade-Related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement for Covid-19-related vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics.

The General Council is the highest-level decision-making body and meets regularly to carry out the functions of the trade body.

WTO Director General (DG) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala called for urgent action towards a comprehensive WTO outcome on pandemic response. “More than two years have passed since the onset of the pandemic. The emergence of the Omicron variant, which forced us to postpone our Twelfth Ministerial Conference, reminded us of the risks of allowing large sections of the world to remain unvaccinated,” she said.

“We at the WTO now have to step up urgently to do our part to reach a multilateral outcome on intellectual property and other issues so as to fully contribute to the global efforts in the fight against Covid-19,” she said.

In October 2020, India and South Africa had submitted a joint proposal for temporarily waiving some sections of the TRIPS agreement, to help more countries, especially low- and middle-income nations, get access to Covid vaccines. It will be applicable to industrial design, trade secrets, patent, and copyright.

As of now, more than 100 nations are supporting the proposal, of which 64 are co-sponsors of the proposals at the WTO. However, the member nations at the WTO are yet to reach a consensus on this, with some developed nations having opposed the proposal.

WTO will continue to hold consultations with members on the Indian proposal, underlining ‘the urgency and importance of reaching a meaningful outcome’, an official statement said.

A common WTO response to Covid-19 "remains an urgent priority for the membership," he said.  A common WTO response to COVID-19 will be an urgent priority, the statement quoted General Council Chair Ambassador Dacio Castillo as saying.