<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/eu-south-africa-hold-intense-talks-break-vaccine-patent-impasse-2021-10-14/" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(5, 99, 193);" class="">https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/eu-south-africa-hold-intense-talks-break-vaccine-patent-impasse-2021-10-14/</a><div class=""><br class="">
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<br class=""><div class=""><h1 style="margin: 0in; font-size: 24pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">EU, South Africa hold "intense talks" to break vaccine patent impasse<o:p class=""></o:p></span></h1><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;" class="">10/15/21</span></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""> </span></div><div class=""><p class="texttext3evx1j" style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">BRUSSELS, Oct 14 (Reuters) - The European Union and South Africa are in "intense talks" on how to increase the availability of vaccines to developing countries, potentially breaking a year-long global deadlock on the topic, an EU official said on Thursday.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="texttext3evx1j" style="margin: 4.26667vw 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">The two have been on either side of the debate at the World Trade Organization - South Africa championing a waiver of intellectual property (IP) rights and the European Union resisting and saying there is sufficient flexibility in existing rules.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="texttext3evx1j" style="margin: 4.26667vw 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">The WTO wants to reach an agreement on global trade's response to the pandemic at its ministerial conference in Geneva from Nov. 30 to Dec. 3.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="texttext3evx1j" style="margin: 4.26667vw 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">European Commission official Antonio Fernandez-Martos told the trade committee of the European Parliament in a debate on the WTO that the European Union did not support a broad waiver of IP rights.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="texttext3evx1j" style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">However, he said other WTO members were encouraging the EU to continue the "very intense work" it is conducting with proponents of the IP waiver, and notably South Africa.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="texttext3evx1j" style="margin: 4.26667vw 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">"We're in intense talks with them around the idea of facilitating compulsory licencing," he told the parliamentary committee, referring to a system in which a government allows manufacture of a patented product without the consent of the patent owner.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="texttext3evx1j" style="margin: 4.26667vw 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">"I can tell you that we are ready to go beyond what we have put on the table, because I think this is what can actually deliver increased manufacturing and more equitable distribution of vaccines and therapeutics," he continued.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="texttext3evx1j" style="margin: 4.26667vw 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">WTO members held talks on the topic on Wednesday and Thursday, and a Geneva-based trade official said there were encouraging signs that members were engaging in the discussion more constructively after months of discord.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="texttext3evx1j" style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">South Africa, the official said, suggested WTO members move beyond a binary approach of choosing either the waiver or the EU proposal.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="texttext3evx1j" style="margin: 4.26667vw 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">WTO director-general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said on Thursday that talks on a waiver were "stuck", but informal consultations were intensifying. She expressed her belief that members could find a pragmatic compromise.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="texttext3evx1j" style="margin: 4.26667vw 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">"It's too early to say whether middle ground can be found. It's not like buying a carpet and you find a mid-point. Any agreement would require conceptual shifts," one delegate said of the EU-South Africa talks.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""><br class=""></span></div>Arthur Stamoulis<br class="">Citizens Trade Campaign<br class="">(202) 494-8826<br class=""><br class=""><br class=""><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""> </span></div></div></div></body></html>