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Wto talks drug deal Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L22602925.htmhttp://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L22602925.htm
22 Jun 2003 16:07:16 GMT
US says working for drugs deal as WTO talks wrap up
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(Adds Kenya trade minister)
By Patrick Lannin and Rachel Noeman
SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, June 22 (Reuters) - The United States said on Sunday it was working to solve a trade dispute on access to life-saving medicines for poor countries as ministers ended a meeting aimed at boosting stalled global commerce talks.
The gathering in this Red Sea resort failed to bridge gaps over trade barriers in agriculture, but ministers said it had helped the whole Doha Round of World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks ahead of a landmark September meeting in Cancun, Mexico.
"I am talking with the (drugs) companies, I am talking with African countries, I'm talking with Brazil and India," said U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick, speaking of efforts to solve a deadlock in the dispute over medicines.
The United States blocked a deal in December intended to help poor countries obtain cheap medicines to fight diseases like AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
Drug firms feared proposals to waive patents could help developing world producers of generic medicines, such as India and Brazil, steal markets.
The issue, along with agriculture, is one of the key tests for the Doha Round, supposed to give developing nations greater benefits from world trade talks, as well as lead to an overall liberalisation of commerce that will boost economic activity.
Zoellick said pharmaceutical firms were concerned drugs sold cheaply to developing states could be smuggled back to Western markets and that the system could be abused by makers of generic products to break into the production of money-spinning medicines such as the anti-impotence drug Viagra.
A U.S. official said the United States had dropped its idea of a restricted list of illnesses to be covered by the system.
"It is certainly fair to say industry is looking to resolve this issue and would like to resolve it by Cancun," he said, referring to the September meeting which could determine if the Doha Round negotiations finish on time in 2004.
Kenyan Trade Minister Mukhisa Kutuyi said he had seen progress at the Sharm el-Sheikh talks on the drugs issue.
"(That) has added to the impetus, to the mood we might actually be able to get something done at Cancun. That is important," he told Reuters.
TIME RUNNING OUT
Egyptian Foreign Trade Minister Youssef Boutros-Ghali, who hosted the two-day gathering of around 30 ministers, said the talks had generated goodwill.
"I can tell you the mood which came out with from these discussions was positive," he said.
The talks included how to give developing countries more time to meet world trade standards and the need for speedy concrete proposals on investment and competition rules.
But discussions on Saturday showed reform of the $500 billion world agriculture market, to cut subsidies and bring down trade barriers, was the main issue for the participants and one where there were wide disagreements.
This is an area of sensitivity for the European Union, whose agriculture ministers last week failed to reform the bloc's system of farm support. More talks are due next week.
EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy said he hoped a deal would be reached to give him room for concessions in the Doha talks.
He said any farm deal which came out of Doha would be a half-way house between those calling for a radical opening up of markets and those resisting such developments.
The European Commission, acting on behalf of EU states, had made a proposal to cut import tariffs and export subsidies, but the United States and farm exporting nations such as Australia have said the bloc must go further in opening its markets.
"On agriculture, to my mind, entrenched positions have been re-stated, and it represents the softest underbelly of the process towards Cancun," the Kenyan trade minister said.
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