World News | USTR Tai Speaks with Bill Gates on TRIPS Waiver for COVID-19 Pandemic

Washington, Apr 29 (PTI) US Trade Representative Katherine Tai held a virtually meeting with Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates on the proposed waiver to certain provisions of the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) for the COVID-19 pandemic.

Amid increasing support for a TRIPS waiver for COVID-19 vaccines by a large number of American lawmakers, Gates of late has come out in opposition to a request on the same before the WTO brought by India and South Africa.

The Biden Administration has been holding a series of consultations with various stakeholders in this regard, including major pharma companies like Pfizer and Moderna.

"United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai met virtually yesterday with Bill Gates, co-founder and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, to discuss increasing vaccine production, global health issues and the proposed waiver to certain provisions of the WTO Agreement on TRIPS for the COVID-19 pandemic," the USTR said in a readout of the call.

During the call, Tai emphasized that the Biden-Harris administration's top priority was saving lives and ending the pandemic, and she stressed her commitment to working on a coordinated global response to the viral outbreak.

Early this week, she held meetings with CEOs of several major pharma companies.

Indian-American Congressman Ro Khanna too has voiced his disagreement with Gates' stand on the issue.

"I rarely think Bill Gates is wrong, but this is a case I hope he will engage. The point that Bill Gates made about manufacturing capacity being restricted is absolutely correct. But what I said is why not have a global fund, USD25 billion, to help with manufacturing capacity and then allow the vaccine recipes to be shared,” he said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)