H.E. Ambassador Dagfinn Sørli and Ambassador Dr. Lansana Gberie

Nepal

10 FOLLOW-UP TO THE NINETEENTH ANNUAL REVIEW UNDER PARAGRAPH 2 OF THE DECISION ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ARTICLE 66.2 OF THE TRIPS AGREEMENT

176.   Thank you, Chair, for convening this meeting and giving me the floor. I associate with the statement delivered by Chad on behalf of the LDC Group. My delegation thanks the Secretariat, especially ITTC and the team of the Intellectual Property Division for organizing the annual workshop on the Implementation of Article 66.2 of the TRIPS Agreement. The capital-based colleagues from the LDCs, provided feedback through the questionnaire. The information shared by the LDCs will be helpful for the Secretariat to figure out priorities of the LDCs and also designed the future technical assistance programme in this regard. Additionally, it would also help effective dialogue and discussion among the LDCs and developed country Members on technology transfer. 177.   My delegation requests the Secretariat to compile a list of prioritised technologies identified by the LDCs in the Workshop and report to the next meeting of the TRIPS Council. My delegation thanks the developed country Members for their annual reports under TRIPS Article 66.2. It would be appreciated if the annual reports could specify the beneficiary LDCs and identify the specific technology that has been transferred, as and when possible. Similarly, sharing the final project evaluation report with the LDCs of such support would be beneficial for us. Organizing a separate workshop to monitor progress under TRIPS Article 67 (technical cooperation) would help avoid any reporting duplication between Article 66.2 and Article 67 of the TRIPS Agreement.

The Council took note of the statements made and agreed to revert to the matter at its next meeting.

51. The Chair recalled that the Council had conducted the Nineteenth Annual Review under Paragraph 2 of the Decision on the Implementation of Article 66.2 of the TRIPS Agreement at its meeting in October 2021. At that meeting delegations from developed country Members had briefly presented the updated reports they had submitted under Article 66.2, and the Council had agreed that it would revert to the item at the present meeting to permit continued consideration of the submitted material. He also recalled that, in July 2020, the LDC Group had circulated a new submission entitled "Proposed New Template for Annual Reporting under Article 66.2 of the Agreement on Trade-related Intellectual Property Rights" in document .
52. In order to give LDCs more time to absorb the information provided by developed country Members in their reports, and to ensure that these reports were available in the official languages of the WTO, the Secretariat had once again organized a "Workshop on the Implementation of the Article 66.2 of the TRIPS Agreement". Due to the sanitary situation, the workshop had been held in virtual format on 2, 3 and 4 March 2022. The Chair indicated that some capital-based delegates who had participated in that Workshop were present at the meeting.
53. The Chair asked the Secretariat to report on this Workshop.
54. A representative of the Secretariat took the floor.
55. The representatives of Sierra Leone; Chad,; Bangladesh; Togo; Nepal; Tanzania; Norway; the European Union; the United Kingdom, South Africa; Japan; Switzerland; the United States; Canada; and Australia took the floor.
56. The Council took note of the statements made and agreed to revert to the matter at its next meeting.

IP/C/M/104/Add.1, IP/C/M/104/Rev.1, IP/C/M104