La Directora General de la OMC Okonjo-Iweala celebra los avances logrados en la exención relativa a la vacuna contra la COVID-19
La Directora General de la Organización Mundial del Comercio, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, acogió con gran satisfacción los avances logrados por cuatro Miembros de la OMC respecto de una exención del Acuerdo sobre los Aspectos de los Derechos de Propiedad Intelectual Relacionados con el Comercio relativa a la producción de vacunas contra la pandemia de COVID-19.
(de momento sólo en inglés)
“This is a major step forward and this compromise is the result of many long and difficult hours of negotiations. But we are not there yet. We have more work to do to ensure that we have the support of the entire WTO Membership,” the Director-General said.
While the agreement between the European Union, India, South Africa and the United States is an essential element to any final deal, she cautioned that not all the details of the compromise have been ironed out and that internal domestic consultations within the four members are still ongoing. Moreover, she stressed that work must commence immediately to broaden the discussions to include all 164 members of the WTO.
“In the WTO we decide by consensus, and this has not yet been achieved. My team and I have been working hard for the past three months and we are ready to roll up our sleeves again to work together with the TRIPS Council Chair Ambassador Lansana Gberie (Sierra Leone) to bring about a full agreement as quickly as possible. We are grateful to the four Members for the difficult work they have undertaken so far,” said Dr. Okonjo-Iweala.
