41. The representative of the United States drew the attention of delegations to the submission that the United States had made and said that his delegation was proud of its record in providing technical assistance to developing country WTO Members and to countries that were seeking to become Members. The United States had been committed to providing technical cooperation programmes since the early 1980s and that commitment was reflected in the quantity and quality of programmes that it provided and participated in. His delegation stood ready to work with developing country Members in areas of interest to them to the degree that its resources permitted. While expressing his appreciation to the WHO for the submission that it had made, he believed that it would be worth highlighting to the WHO, which Organization was participating for the first time in a meeting of the TRIPS Council, following the recent decision of the Council to grant the WHO observer status, that an issue that had been discussed in the Council on many occasions was what was the appropriate means of interpreting the TRIPS Agreement. The Council had been asked on a number of occasions to provide interpretations of the Agreement, but Members had always been clear that only the Ministerial Conference and the General Council were entrusted with and empowered to interpret the TRIPS Agreement. In certain instances, the Dispute Settlement Body was also empowered to interpret the TRIPS Agreement, when adopting panel and Appellate Body reports in disputes settlement cases under the DSU. He mentioned this, because, as the document submitted by the WHO indicated, the WHO was engaged in a great deal of activity in helping developing countries and other countries to understand the TRIPS Agreement as it related to health issues. He expressed the hope and expectation that the WHO, in all of these activities, would cooperate with the WTO and fully avail themselves of the expertise in the WTO in conducting their activities.
