French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday emphasised that countries must work with World Health Organisation (WHO) and World Trade Organization (WTO) to ensure that intellectual property should not become an obstacle to accessing COVID vaccines.
The President also informed that Paris is working with India and South Africa on a proposal regarding this matter and the country is expecting an agreement at the G7 summit.
"We must work with World Health Organisation and World Trade Organization to ensure intellectual property will never be an obstacle to accessing vaccines... It's an initial proposal from India and South Africa that we are working on... I hope there will be an agreement at the G7 summit," Macron tweeted today.
The Group of Seven (G7) leaders are expected to announce that they will provide at least one billion coronavirus vaccine doses to the world through dose sharing and financing, as per the announcement of United Kingdom.
The UK, which is hosting the G7 summit in southwest England, added it would donate at least 100 million surplus doses within the next year, including five million beginning in the coming weeks. This comes amid growing calls for richer countries to step up their efforts to share Covid-19 shots with less developed nations.
India and South Africa's has proposed at the World Trade Organization to temporarily waive certain intellectual property rules under the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement), a measure that would expand access to lifesaving vaccines and other health products. Human Rights Watch is among the hundreds of civil society organizations around the world urging support for the TRIPS waiver.
( With inputs from ANI )
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