India's Covid vaccine proposal draws support from 115 MPs of European Parliament

Hundred and fifteen members of European Parliament have backed India’s proposal to waive provisions of Agreement on Trade-Related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) at the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The proposal, drafted jointly by India and South Africa in October last year, seeks a waiver on the intellectual property rights regime in a bid to facilitate access to medicines by more countries. As a health crisis continues to threaten the world, New Delhi has called for cost-effective universal solutions which could only be made possible with collective research and efforts.

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“We now have 57 WTO members supporting us. We have many African countries already on board. The developed world is under pressure because on one hand, they talk about supporting each other and multilateral fight against Covid pandemic, but on the other hand, they're looking at protecting the interests of a few companies only in terms of innovation costs or R&D,” Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal said.

'Decade of India'

Speaking further at the International Conference on Pharmaceuticals and Medical organized by industry body FICCI., Goyal stressed that India has been in the “golden period” for health care in the last few years and the industry should strive to make the next ten years “Decade of India” where entire world would be following Indian standards.

Stressing that the world needed a “CURE that will come out of Cost-effective Universal solutions through Research and Enterprise,” he touted that Indian Pharmaceutical industry had the ability to “cure the world” and lead the world in medicine. He stressed that a waiver on Intellectual property rights could help India establish a system where the entire world would be driven by Indian quality standards, regulatory processes and manufacturing practices in the coming decade.

 “If we take it upon ourselves that India is going to cure the world, I see no limitations in our ability to aspire to become a world dominant leader in the field of medtech, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and health care providers,” he said.

(With inputs from PTI)

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