With barely 10 days left for the WTO ministerial conference, countries are increasingly under pressure to arrive at a consensus on the text proposed by DG Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
Members have met in small group discussions over the last few weeks, that have included participation of up to 30 members. Countries with smaller delegations have been spread thin across multiple, parallel negotiations at the WTO in the run up to the ministerial conference (12-15 June 2022) including for disciplines such as agriculture, fisheries among others.
This analysis is based on the negotiations the version of the text dated May 30, seen by Geneva Health Files. We are unable to share the text. (But see a version of the text [May 25] published by Bilaterals.org.)
Supporters of the original TRIPS Waiver proposal say that current negotiations are mostly limited to vaccines, at a time when there is a surplus of vaccines production. And the text continues to have TRIPS-plus provisions, seeking stronger obligations than is currently mandated by the WTO TRIPS Agreement, some of which have been suggested by the UK and Switzerland, according to sources familiar with the discussions.
It is understood that the current text has a set of clarifications and a waiver of a single provision of the TRIPS Agreement.
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