Actas - Consejo de los ADPIC - Ver detalles de la intervención/declaración

Ambassador Alfredo Suescum (Panama)
12 THE UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL'S HIGH LEVEL PANEL REPORT ON ACCESS TO MEDICINES
205. South Africa is one of the co-sponsors of this agenda item, and I think in the last meeting we were quite encouraged by the number of delegations that took the floor and either indicated support for discussion of the topic, or indicated that they would revert to the next meeting to report back on feedback that they were awaiting from their capitals. It is rather disappointing to see that not many flags are up, but nonetheless I think in contextualising the topic that we have put on the table, we should not be paralysed by the fact that we refer to the United Nations High Level Panel on Access to Medicines. It frames a universal issue of access and equitability, it frames an issue of capacity, it also definitely impacts on the types of discussions that we have in this house. Given the fact that the Protocol has now come into effect, I believe that this discussion gives us an opportunity to put many of the issues on the table in respect of the efficacy of the System, in respect of many of the criticisms that have been expressed in respect of how the System specifically has been used. 206. Now of course, what we endeavour to do is to essentially create a platform to discuss a roundtable of many sub-issues as India has indicated, and this is also very closely linked to many of the other things that are happening in the Council. We had a short discussion this morning on Article 71.1, so practically from an implementation point of view, and from an assessment point of view, it is important for us to start talking about issues in this Council. The fact that things have been on the table for a long time and we get the standard responses we get in every meeting should be taken on and we believe that in revitalising our discussions in this Council we need to be able to discuss matters, even if they are difficult, in a constructive way and as a result of that we believe that further discussion of this particular topic is important. The context that we put in respect of this does not limit the discussion merely to some of the recommendations that have been made by the High Level Panel, but we necessarily may have to be more holistic and look at many of the other issues that we have not been able to discuss or where we have not been able to focus upon. Given this, we are happy to hear the views of other Members and we are also happy to support Brazil's proposal that we could continue this topic at the next meeting.
The Council took note of the statements made.
63. The Chairman recalled that Brazil, China, India and South Africa had requested that this item be added to the agenda of the Council's meeting in November 2016. To introduce the item, they had also submitted a communication (document IP/C/W/619).

64. In the course of that discussion, the delegation of South Africa had requested that this item be continued as an ad hoc item at the next meeting and the Council so agreed.

65. Since this was a continuation of the discussion had held at the Council's meeting in November 2016, he briefly summarized what had been said at that meeting. According to the co sponsors, the request to add this item to the Council's agenda had been intended to facilitate an exchange of views on the recommendations of the High Level Panel, as well as to share national experiences regarding the use of TRIPS flexibilities. At the meeting in November 2016, some delegations had welcomed the discussion of the report in this Council while others had said that they needed more time to consider the recommendations. Some delegations had expressed concern about the narrow scope of the report and had noted that it had neither been mandated nor endorsed by Members of the United Nations.

66. The representatives of India; Bangladesh on behalf of the LDC Group; Brazil; South Africa; China; Indonesia; Nigeria on behalf of the African Group; Egypt; the United States; Japan; Canada; the Republic of Korea; Norway; the European Union; Switzerland; Australia; Chinese Taipei; and Chile took the floor.

67. The representative of the World Health Organization took the floor.

68. The Council took note of the statements made.

IP/C/M/85, IP/C/M/85/Add.1