Piyush Goyal to push WTO DG for TRIPS waiver on Covid-19 vaccine

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal (pictured) will soon push the World Trade Organization (WTO) to waive intellectual property rights on Covid-19 vaccines when he meets the trade body’s Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

 

The meeting, to be held virtually, will be Goyal’s first with the recently appointed DG. “While there will be discussion on several issues, the topic of Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) waiver is likely to be on top of the list,” a senior government official told Business Standard.

 

In October last year, India and South Africa had requested waiver from certain provisions of the multilateral agreement, so that more countries get equitable access to vaccines.  Amid rising Covid-19 cases, a waiver on certain provisions of the agreement is expected to help more countries, especially middle- and low-income nations to access vaccines.

 

However, countries have been divided on the issue, with some developed nations opposing it.