§ Mr. WeirTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps she will take to(a) extend the partial agreement on access to medicines for developing nations reached at Doha and (b) reach agreement on compulsory licensing in third countries. [16799]
568W
§ Ms Hewitt[holding answer 22 November 2001 The UK whole-heartedly supports the Declaration on the TRIPS agreement and Public Health issued at the successful conclusion of the Fourth Ministerial Meeting of the WTO at Doha, Qatar. This also commits member states, working through the TRIPS Council, to develop a solution before the end of 2002 as to how WTO Members with insufficient or no manufacturing capacities in the pharmaceutical sector might make effective use of compulsory licensing under the TRIPS Agreement.
The UK continues to work in a range of other ways both bilaterally and through for example, the Global Fund for Health to improve access to medicines in poor countries.