Minutes - TRIPS Council - View details of the intervention/statement

H.E. Ambassador Xolelwa Mlumbi-Peter (South Africa)
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
12 TECHNICAL COOPERATION AND CAPACITY-BUILDING
482.   The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Secretariat, through its Intellectual Property Unit, located within the Division on Investment and Enterprise, implements a work programme on the development dimensions of IP rights. 483.   The work programme is designed to respond to the mandate received from Members at the Ministerial Conference in Nairobi in July 2016, as well as to intergovernmental requests under the WIPO Development Agenda and the World Health Assembly's Resolution 61.21 on a Global Strategy and Plan of Action on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property. It is partially funded by donor governments and institutions. 484.   Currently, the work programme targets technical assistance and capacity building in the following areas: a. Local pharmaceutical production and its linkages with COVID-19; b. Designing investment incentives to address anti-microbial resistance (AMR) in Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and the East African Community; c. The role of regional cooperation on Intellectual Property under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA); d. The role of IP in technology and R&D partnerships, and e. The role of IP in the digital economy. 485.   For more details, I refer to UNCTAD's written submission that is available in the WTO's e-TRIPS submission system.
The Council took note of the statements made and agreed to revert to the matter at its next meeting.
64. The Chair recalled that, at its July 2020 meeting, the Council had agreed to hold the annual review of technical cooperation at its next meeting. Thus, developed country Members had been requested to update information on their technical and financial cooperation activities relevant to the implementation of the TRIPS Agreement. Other Members, which also provided technical cooperation were encouraged to share information on their activities. The Secretariat had issued a reminder. Intergovernmental organizations, observers to the Council and the WTO Secretariat had also been invited to provide information.
65. The Council had received information from: Japan, Switzerland, Australia, United States, the United Kingdom, and Norway. Since the circulation of the revised agenda, the Council had received further information from the European Union. These reports were being circulated under the new dedicated document series with the symbol IP/C/R/TC/[Member]/1 – where "R" stands for "Reports" and "TC" stands for "Technical Cooperation". The following intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) had also submitted updated information: United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), World Health Organization (WHO), World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC). Their reports were being circulated in the same document series IP/C/R/TC/[IGO observer]/1. Information on the WTO Secretariat's own technical cooperation activities in the TRIPS area could be found in document . She invited Members to introduce their reports.
66. The representatives of the United States of America; the United Kingdom; Japan; Australia; Canada; the European Union; Bangladesh; Switzerland; Brazil; Chad, on behalf of the LDC Group; Mali; and South Africa took the floor.
67. The Chair invited the WTO Secretariat to present its report on technical cooperation activities.
68. The representative of the Secretariat took the floor.
69. The Chair invited the representatives of IGO observers to present their reports on technical cooperation activities.
70. The representatives of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC); World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO); World Health Organization (WHO); and the United National Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) took the floor.
71. The Chair invited Members to comment.
72. The representatives of Sri Lanka; Chad, on behalf of the LDC Group; and India took the floor.
73. The Chair thanked Members and IGO observers for the valuable information. As some information had been recently submitted and was available only in its original language, she would provide Members an opportunity to make further comments, at the next meeting.
74. The Council took note of the statements made and agreed to revert to the matter at its next meeting.
IP/C/M/96, IP/C/M/96/Add.1