EU hopes to close agreements on vaccines and fishing subsidies in WTO

The European Union (EU) hopes that at the next ministerial conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO), which begins in Geneva on Monday, multilateral agreements on the production of vaccines in developing countries and on fisheries subsidies can be concluded.

The conference, which will take place from November 29 to December 3, will be the first in four years and, according to community sources, the occasion of “show that the WTO is back on track”.

On the multilateral front, the EU hopes that a ministerial declaration and action plan will come out to respond to the pandemic by limiting export restrictions or guaranteeing transparency in global value chains.

But in this area, he considers an agreement essential for a country to be able to quickly and efficiently grant a company a permit to produce and export vaccines or medical products, even if it does not have the approval of the patent holder, without fearing potential risks of litigation.

The EU wants ministers to go “beyond“Of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and an exemption is approved so that countries that deem it necessary can make decisions”quickly and effectively ”.

“Sometimes the concern expressed by developing countries is that, although there is some flexibility under TRIPS, decisions are often contested in national courts.“Pointed out the sources, who trusted that an agreement will be reached in Geneva and that it can be applied”immediately”.

European sources said they were aware that “there are problems and obstacles to the production of vaccines and therapeutics“And that”Intellectual property may not be the most important, but it is part of the contribution we think we could make”.

In any case, they declared that the exemption sought will act “very specifically, to avoid undermining the value of the intellectual property system ”, given that “We must not forget that thanks to intellectual property vaccines have been developed”They said.

The other agreement that the EU expects at this conference is on fishing subsidies for sustainable catches.

Some of the issues are now “fully awake“, Like how to respond to illegal fishing, but there are still”pending issues” as the “very complicated”Issue of special and differential treatment, explained community sources.

Furthermore, the EU is confident that, even if no agreements are reached, progress will be made to achieve results at the next ministerial in areas such as agriculture and WTO reform.

In agriculture, he hopes that the modalities will be prepared to reduce national support that distort trade in the next ministerial, while on the reform, he will ask, together with partners such as Brazil, to create a working group or “some other type of structural process“Open to participation by all WTO members to restore a WTO dispute resolution system”fully functional and improved”.

The idea is that all countries “They can make their proposals, debate it, with the idea of ​​moving towards the next ministerial”.

At the level of the plurilateral trade agenda, the sources expect an agreement “very significant”On trade and services, new ideas are proposed to better integrate climate and environmental considerations into the WTO framework, or progress is made on trade and gender and in e-commerce and investment facilitation negotiations.

They noted that there will be a statement by some 60 WTO members, including the EU but also the United States, China and a significant group of developing countries, that the organization “must respond more to climate concerns”.

In the sights for the future, they pointed out, is the possibility of a liberalization of environmental goods and services.