70. The representative of the United States believed that Norway's notification of its implementation of the Decision supported the efforts to promote access to medicines to poor countries facing epidemics. His delegation remained fully committed to reaching an agreement on the amendment by the March 2005 deadline and continued to believe that substantive issues should not be reopened and that this should be seen as a technical exercise. As indicated in prior TRIPS Council meetings, his delegation considered it essential that the amendment preserve the entire agreement reached in August 2003 and therefore needed to include an express reference to both the Decision and the Chairman's Statement. Meeting the 2005 deadline would be a very difficult task if Members sought to change the content of the 30 August 2003 agreement. He said that his delegation only sought to preserve all aspects of the agreement, including the legal relationship between the Decision and the Chairman's Statement, and that it remained open as to how this could be best accomplished.
