148. The Chairperson recalled that, in concluding the informal meeting of the Council on 25 July 2001, its Chairperson, Ambassador Chidyausiku of Zimbabwe, had indicated that he would hold consultations prior to the present meeting of the Council to see whether Members could come up with a framework for capturing the progress in their work on this subject. He had also said that he would consult with the Chairperson of the General Council on the issues that had been raised in the discussion at the informal meeting on 25 July about the relationship between the TRIPS Council's work and work in the General Council's preparatory process for Doha on the issue of intellectual property and access to medicines. The two Chairpersons had been in touch with each other and had agreed that, at least until the present Council meeting, it would make sense for the work in the Council to cover the totality of the elements that might be sent to Doha on intellectual property and access to medicines, both the preambular or more political aspects and the more technical ones relating to the clarification of the relevant provisions of the TRIPS Agreement. Consequently, Ambassador Chidyausiku had held a series of consultations with some of the delegations that had been most active in the debate on intellectual property and access to medicines in small groups.
149. Continuing, he said that a number of delegations had indicated that they were preparing proposals for language for the Doha Ministerial Conference and would introduce these some time during the present meeting of the Council. He recalled that the Chairperson of the General Council had indicated his intention to submit to Members a draft text of elements for a Ministerial Declaration towards the end of the month. There was therefore little time in which to make progress in capturing in writing what Members had achieved and what they might be able to further achieve. As regards the fruits of the work in the Council for TRIPS on clarifying the provisions which provided flexibility to Members under the Agreement, he recalled that the Council had agreed, at its informal meeting of 25 July 2001, to focus the discussions on: the objectives and principles of the TRIPS Agreement as enshrined in Articles 7 and 8; the provisions relating to compulsory licensing; and the provisions relating to parallel imports.
