The Central government has clarified that it does not have any commercial interests to be taken care of while signing the TRIPS and public health agreement. Defending its decision to join a select group of developing countries and the US in signing a draft resolution on TRIPS and public health, senior commerce ministry officials said that the whole effort was intended to best suit the interests of the poor nations.
The officials felt that it was practical to go for a compromise than stick on rigid agenda if an agreement had to be signed before the Cancun meet of the WTO. The delay in the acceptance of the draft, caused by the inability to get it passed in the executive general council of the WTO, did not invite a sharp reaction from the government due to the same reason.
Attending a meeting organized by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), S N Menon, additional secretary, Ministry of Commerce said that India's interest in the whole issue was just "humanitarian" and wants the issue to be solved soon.
Contrary to the government attitude, the Indian drug industry, the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA) in particular, is more vocal on its reactions to the Geneva agreement. They feel that the new conditions proposed in the draft would have made the export of drugs under Para 6 virtually impossible and make the poor pay more for generic medicines.
The Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI), representing multinational companies has opposed the IPA stand and feels that the agreement would have achieved critical humanitarian objectives by ensuring access to medicines for patients in the world's poorest nations.
The Indian companies are now happy over the protests voiced by countries like Philippines and Argentina over many of the clauses in the new draft and the consequent delay in the agreement.
The compromise deal worked out by the US, Brazil, India, Kenya and South Africa on Wednesday and taken up by the General Council for approval late Thursday night was held up as some members wanted to make statements on their interpretations of the deal to ensure that they understood it correctly.