European nations not supporting TRIPS waiver move to deal with Covid: Goyal

Unfortunate that some countries putting profits over prudence, said Piyush Goyal on TRIPS waiver proposal

India is trying to promote a temporary waiver on some sections of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement at the World Trade Organization (WTO), which is a move towards equitable access of vaccines and other medicines to everyone across the world, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said on Wednesday.

Currently, the proposal initiated by India and South Africa is being discussed at the WTO and has been backed by over 100 countries. However, European Union and some other developed nations are not supporting the move. Major pharmaceutical companies have argued that the move can hurt innovation.

“It is unfortunate that some countries are putting profits over prudence...today is not the time even for pharma companies to count their dollars, today is the time for the world to work together...It is myopic strategy that some countries are following,” Goyal said at a virtual event.

Speaking at the India Global forum, the minister said that India is looking at a greater degree of engagement with countries that are ‘democratic in their political system’ and can ‘relate and trust as a partner’.

Towards this, India is working towards greater engagement with countries that believe in transparent rules-based trading mechanisms. India is currently talking to the UK, Australia, Canada and EU for trade deals, and is keen to speed them up.

“We are looking at investments, technology, high quality goods, equipment, machinery. We will be looking at providing high quality technology support to our services & IT sector,” he added.