On 16 March 2022, the World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General welcomed the breakthrough among four WTO Members on a waiver of the Trade Related Intellectual Property (TRIP) agreement for the production of vaccines against the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This is a major step forward and this compromise is the result of many long and difficult hours of negotiations. But we are not there yet. We have more work to do to ensure that we have the support of the entire WTO Membership,” said the Director-General.
While the agreement between the European Union, India, South Africa and the United States is an essential element to any final deal, she cautioned that not all the details of the compromise had been ironed out and that internal domestic consultations within the four members were still ongoing. Moreover, she stressed that work must commence immediately to broaden the discussions to include all 164 members of the WTO.