Most nations supported proposals by India, South Africa as far as TRIPS waiver is concerned: Piyush Goyal
Oct 29, 2021
Rome [Italy] October 29 : Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal on Friday informed that India and South Africa have put forward some proposals regarding the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) waiver and the proposals have been supported by many nations.
"As far as TRIPS waiver is concerned, South Africa and India have put forward some proposals, which have been supported by most nations," the Union Minister said.
"As far as availability of vaccine is concerned, some countries have also talked about it, which is being discussed in WTO," Goyal added.
Goyal's remarks came while he was addressing the media after the three-day 6th G20 Sherpas' meeting.
The WTO Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health, agreed by WTO members in 2001, helped to frame the health policy context of the intellectual property system, World Trade Orgnaisation informed.
It stressed the need for the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) to be part of the wider national and international action to address public health problems afflicting developing countries and least-developed countries, World Trade Orgnaisation said.
The Declaration identified specific options open for governments to address public health needs, also termed 'flexibilities', and the importance of such flexibilities was highlighted more recently by their inclusion in the Sustainable Development Goals.
The agenda of the meeting was to finalise the Rome Declaration, which will be adopted by the Leaders at the G20 Summit.
The G20 nations have acknowledged India's leadership on global concerns and support views of the country on a wide array of issues including mutual recognition of travel documents, relating to COVID-19 testing and vaccine certificates, said Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Italy to participate in the G20 Summit where he will join other leaders in discussions on global economic and health recovery from COVID-19, sustainable development, and climate change.
