An international agreement on waiving intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines is within reach ahead of a global trade meeting next week, the head of the World Trade Organization said on Wednesday.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, director-general of the WTO, says there is still hope for a deal on intellectual property rights for vaccines.
She also says an agreement could be reached on fishing subsidies in time for the meeting.
Negotiators have been working late nights and weekends to try to resolve outstanding differences ahead of next week’s World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting.
Since she was appointed more than a year ago, Okonjo-Iweala, a former Nigerian minister and chair of the GAVI vaccine alliance board, has prioritised a long-sought deal on a waiver for intellectual property rights for COVID-19 shots.
The WTO’s biennial meeting was twice delayed by COVID-19 and is taking place after a nearly 5-year gap against the backdrop of high geopolitical tensions since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
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