International Trade committee  Thank you for the question. It's a bit complicated. On the one hand, I think you're right. If this measure was adopted at the WTO, it would certainly be a signal of support from the underlying member states of the WTO that are engaged in the bilateral and multilateral trade dea

International Trade committee  I think that's exactly [Technical difficulty—Editor]. In my opening remarks, I referenced the role of the TRIPS waiver campaign in helping create some of that momentum and increasing pressure. I also think a policy of non-retaliation around use or indication of existing TRIPS fle

International Trade committee  I would defer to him on the numbering of the flexibilities, but yes, generally speaking, those are the flexibilities to which I was referring.

International Trade committee  The challenge with TRIPS flexibilities is not just in the letter of the law or what is technically written into it. It's in the actual applicability of those flexibilities. As Mr. Lipkus mentioned, many countries are also bound by bilateral trade deals with the U.S. or Europe or

International Trade committee  It is my understanding that there have been no compulsory licences issued for COVID vaccines thus far. It's hard to know to what extent that is, whether there is no opportunity for a compulsory licence to be issued where it would be useful, or whether countries are doing a cost-b

International Trade committee  I'll just make one point briefly on that. I think our colleague from the IP association referenced this briefly. A lot of the history regarding these access-to-medicine sites has to do with threats to IP, compulsory licensing and other measures that then extract concessions aroun

International Trade committee  Thank you very much for the question. I agree with you that the patents are not the primary barrier, which is why I do not think the TRIPS waiver will be particularly effective. However, that's not to say that IP, broadly speaking, is not an issue at all. I would distinguish be

International Trade committee  I might turn it over to my colleague, Prashant Yadav, who would be more knowledgeable on this point.

International Trade committee  Good afternoon. My sincere thanks to the honourable members of this committee for the opportunity to testify today. In the context of appalling inequities in access to COVID-19 vaccines between wealthy countries and the global south, as this committee knows, South Africa and In