WTO trade ministers made some progress at their ’mini-Ministerial’ meeting in Sharm-Al-Sheik (21-22 June) on the issue of access to medicines.
The ’mini-Ministerial’ gathered some 30 representatives of WTO member countries to discuss the ongoing talks on trade in the road to Cancun.
US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick told the audience that there was an ongoing dialogue with US pharmaceutical firms on the issue. Unofficial sources also reported that the US are no more pursuing their demand for a WTO solution to be limited to a short list of diseases.
Background information on access to medicines and WTO on EPHA web site
Our Policy Paper on Health and Trade
CPTech Page on WTO Negotiations over Paragraph 6 of the Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health
