Global trade negotiations are about striking bargains. You lose some and win some. So, who were the main winners and losers in the recently concluded 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) of the World Trade Organization (WTO)? Even a cursory examination of the outcomes of the meeting leaves us in no doubt that the European Union (EU) and some other developed countries are the overwhelming winners, while India finds itself on the losing side.
The COVID-19 fight
The ministerial outcome on the so-called TRIPS waiver represents the biggest gain for the EU. It is relevant to recall the sequence of events. In October 2020, India and South Africa put forth a proposal seeking to temporarily suspend the protection of intellectual property rights such as patents, copyrights, industrial designs and trade secrets, so that the production of vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics could be ramped up to help overcome the crisis and fight the COVID-19 pandemic. The proposal garnered the support of almost 100 countries at the WTO. It also caught the imagination of many Nobel laureates, academicians, civil society organisations, former Prime Ministers of many developed countries, the former Secretary General of the United Nations and even Hollywood celebrities.
