• Live
    • Audio Only
  • google plus
  • facebook
  • twitter
News > Switzerland

WTO Calls to Lift Commercial Restrictions on Medical Supplies

  • The head of the WTO says that trade barriers related to medical supplies used against COVID19 had risen and urged member states to drop them, as it intensified efforts to reach a deal on vaccine-sharing.

    The head of the WTO says that trade barriers related to medical supplies used against COVID19 had risen and urged member states to drop them, as it intensified efforts to reach a deal on vaccine-sharing. | Photo: Twitter @AlArabiya_Eng

Published 14 June 2021
Opinion

At a virtual forum, WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala stressed the need to reduce those limitations to move goods, medical supplies, and vaccines faster.

On Monday, the World Trade Organization (WTO) urged lifting restrictions on medical supplies used against Covid-19 and indicated this is a trend in the wrong direction.

RELATED:

WTO Urges to Diversity Vaccines Production in Latam, Africa

At a virtual forum, WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala stressed the need to reduce those limitations to move goods, medical supplies, and vaccines faster.

Okonjo-Iweala pointed out that when the pandemic first broke out in 2020, commercial bans amounted to 109; later, they dropped to 51 but have risen to 53 since then. The difference is that the world health situation worsened.

She also ordered the member states to reach a consensus in July on improving access to Covid-19 vaccines after months of talks about the waiver of pharmaceutical companies' intellectual property rights.

Most developing countries support the waiver, she said, but some rich nations strongly oppose it to justify that this measure will deter research.

'It is going to be tough because there are still differences, but we hope we can get to a pragmatic approach,' she asserted. 'I'm in a hurry, and I want us to get some agreement by July because lives are important,' she concluded.

Comment
0
Comments
Post with no comments.