The World Trade Organization succeeded in signing, on Friday 17 June, “an ‘unprecedented’ set of trade agreements covering health and food safety”, after extending negotiations for two days due to disagreements among its 164 members, reports Al-Jazeera.
The ministerial conference, which began on Sunday 12 June, enabled the signing of agreements of “Covid-19 vaccine patent waiver” and on the “reduction of overfishing”, details the BBC. True, the rich countries that agreed to waive patents limited the measure to the next five years and excluded treatments and tests, but this agreement “will enable developing countries to produce and export the vaccines”explains the British channel.
For the Director General of the WTO, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, this set “unprecedented” trade agreements will “changing the lives of people around the world”.
Compromise on vaccine patents
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