109. The representative of Brazil reiterated its position that the CBD secretariat should be accepted as an observer to the Council. The relationship between the TRIPS Agreement and the CBD was a permanent item on the Council's agenda, part of the Doha Round mandate and also the object of a number of written communications and proposals circulated in the Council. The fact that there were several pending requests for observer status presented to the Secretariat by other international organizations should not prevent the Council from granting observer status to the CBD secretariat. In this regard, he appreciated the flexibility shown by Egypt and India and by other developing countries and was willing to be flexible in accepting the proposal made by India and Egypt that the CBD secretariat be given an ad hoc meeting-by-meeting invitation until the request for its permanent observer status was approved.
