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In a distinct shift from his position on using existing flexibilities in the intellectual property system to respond effectively to COVID-19, WHO DG Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus last week rung a note of caution against undermining IP, and being measured while dealing with such rules, when asked about extending certain agreed rules at the WTO to boost access to tests and treatments.

 Several members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on 18 December apparently sought to know from the facilitator overseeing the reform of the WTO’s dispute settlement system (DSS) as to why he has remained silent on the most crucial pillar of Appellate Review, particularly the Appellate Body, seemingly raising a cloud over the restoration of the two-tier DSS at the upcoming WTO’s 13th ministerial conference (MC13) that commences in Abu Dhabi on 26 February 2024.

Trade policies can help countries catalyze progress towards their climate goals but remain underused in practice. Stronger global cooperation is necessary to change course

An UNCTAD study released at COP28 examines how 60 developing countries have integrated trade into their national pledges under the Paris Agreement, known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

The study, whose launch coincided with the summit’s inaugural “Trade Day” on 4 December, maps out how trade is systematically used in these national climate plans.

“The mapping exercise shows trade policies’ untapped potential in climate action,” said Miho Shirotori, head of UNCTAD’s international trade division.

“Trade could play a much bigger role in cutting emissions and preserving resources by facilitating access to low-carbon technologies and environmentally preferable goods and services.”

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The elimination of tuberculosis cannot be achieved if medicines are locked in a “patent panoply,” according to Indian author and journalist Vidya Kishnan.

Speaking to Garry Aslanyan on the most recent episode of Dialogues, a new series from the Global Health Matters podcast, the author of “Phantom Plague: How Tuberculosis Shaped History” said that “everything that happened in COVID has been happening for decades with TB.

The chair of the Doha fisheries subsidies negotiations at the World Trade Organization has issued a draft consolidated text aimed at a “final push” to conclude negotiations on disciplines on subsidies contributing to overcapacity and overfishing before the WTO’s 13th ministerial conference (MC13) gets underway in Abu Dhabi on 26 February 2024. by D. Ravi Kanth

The elimination of tuberculosis cannot be achieved if medicines are locked in a “patent panoply,” according to Indian author and journalist Vidya Kishnan.

Speaking to Garry Aslanyan on the most recent episode of Dialogues, a new series from the Global Health Matters podcast, the author of “Phantom Plague: How Tuberculosis Shaped History” said that “everything that happened in COVID has been happening for decades with TB.

An informal mini-ministerial meeting held on 27 November failed to provide any political guidance on injecting momentum into the agriculture negotiations in the run-up to the upcoming World Trade Organization’s 13th ministerial conference (MC13).

The Cairns Group of farm-exporting countries came under criticism at the Doha negotiating body on agriculture for allegedly shifting the focus of the discussions to comprehensive reform of domestic support, instead of on the issue of public stockholding programmes for food security purposes in developing countries.

The GC meeting, which continued on 14 December, appears to have cast a dark shadow on issues like the extension of the MC12 Ministerial Decision on the TRIPS Agreement to cover COVID-19 diagnostics and therapeutics; the proposed termination of the moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions; the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) graduation issue concerning transition support measures in favour of those LDCs that have graduated from the LDC category; and several other issues, said people who asked not to be quoted.

by D. Ravi Kanth

At the year-end meeting of the World Trade Organization’s General Council, India apparently argued that the proposed Investment Facilitation for Development (IFD) Agreement is allegedly “illegal” and cannot be placed on the agenda of the upcoming WTO's 13th ministerial conference (MC13).