258. The representative of Canada said that his delegation's particular interest in issues related to the Paragraph 6 System and welcomed the Chair's consultations on this matter, as well as Bangladesh' acceptance of the Protocol Amending the TRIPS Agreement. He appreciated the Secretariat's work in providing further information and guidance with a view to facilitating the task of Members which still had to accept the Protocol and encouraged those Members to proceed. This would concretize one of the more significant developments in the Doha Development Round. It would constitute welcome news for the Ministerial Conference in December, if additional Members accepted the Protocol in time so that the derogations could then become a permanent part of the TRIPS Agreement.
259. He thanked the Secretariat for distributing the report on the trilateral symposium held by the WTO, WIPO and WHO in February 2011, concerning various issues affecting access to essential medicines. Both this and the previous symposium had been good opportunities to delve into a complex subject matter. Information provided could serve Members' respective constituencies. The trilateral symposia also confirmed the positive collaboration between the three international organizations. He encouraged similar activities to be organized in the future.
260. His delegation was pleased with the high level of activity regarding the review of the System. The last review had provided an opportunity for delegations to provide additional information with respect to their experience. Unfortunately, the kind of feedback his delegation was hoping for from some of the potential beneficiaries of the System had not been received, including any potential concerns that they may have had with it. This was directly related to the suggestion that an open-ended workshop be held. As noted in the past, his delegation was, in principle, not opposed to the idea. However, it would seem premature to go ahead with it before a full scale exchange of experiences among Members was completed.
261. While interested stakeholders could sometimes provide additional perspectives that could be helpful for Members, the key in this case was to focus on decision makers, i.e. the Members themselves. He noted that it was them who decided whether to use the System, and not MSF, Apotex, or other stakeholders that had been mentioned. Therefore, if the Council were to have a valuable engagement with other parties, first and foremost, it had to do its homework within the membership. It was important to have answers to a number of outstanding questions that had been asked by his delegation and by others with respect to some Members' experiences. He therefore encouraged Members who had been unable to share their experiences in the previous annual review, to do so at the forthcoming review.
