License more manufacturing sites in developing nations to produce vaccines: WTO DG
SECTIONS
Share
Synopsis
The WTO MC12 will take place in November in Geneva. It was originally scheduled to take place in June 2020 in Kazakhstan but was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Addressing the WTO General Council after taking office on March 1, she said that the world has a normal capacity to produce 3.5 billion doses of vaccines and now it seeks to manufacture 10 billion doses.
World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has called for the member countries to work with companies to license more manufacturing sites in developing countries and technology transfer citing “serious supply scarcity”.
Maurice Info Search
Mauritius has been appointed as the coordinator of the African Group at the World Trade Organisation. The African group consists of all 43 African WTO members and provides a forum to exchange views on how best to improve Africa’s participation in the WTO’s multilateral trading system.
The role of the coordinator is to speak as one voice on behalf of Africa at the WTO, thus strengthening the negotiating influence of the continent on issues of common interest. As coordinator, Mauritius will lead the African Group at Expert, Ambassadorial and Ministerial levels up to the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC12) that would tentatively take place in December 2021. Against the backdrop of the coming into force of the AfCFTA, this position will give Mauritius an opportunity to increase its engagement with other African countries, particularly on their trade interest.
Thank you, Chair.
Chair, this discussion comes at the end of an exceptionally challenging year.
We still have a long way to go to defeat Covid-19, and there remain other threats to our collective prosperity and wellbeing.
The WTO has a crucial role to play and we must re-commit ourselves to delivering real progress. We need to cement the WTO’s role as a forward-looking Organization able to deliver for 21st century enterprises and citizens, and able to deliver collective solutions to global problems – from the impact of the pandemic, to the enduring challenge of climate change.
Last month, the UK was pleased to co-sponsor the call for establishing an enhanced dialogue on trade and environment at the WTO. As host of COP-26, the UK is proud to take a leading role in tackling climate change. Working together, we can find ways to mitigate climate change, to protect our forests and oceans, and conserve biodiversity while promoting trade and economic development.
WTO Trade Negotiations Committee UK statement miragenews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from miragenews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.