WTO : TRIPS Council chair adopts anti-developing country positions (PRIV)
(D. Ravi Kanth, Geneva)
The chair of the World Trade Organization's TRIPS Council, Ambassador Lansana Gberie of Sierra Leone, has allegedly sided with the major pharmaceutical-producing industrialized countries by denying the demands of a large majority of developing countries to include their proposed amendments concerning the TRIPS decision extension on diagnostics and therapeutics to the WTO's General Council, said people familiar with the development.

Trade : 50 MEPs demand a decision on diagnostics & therapeutics (PRIV)
(D. Ravi Kanth, Geneva)
Around 50 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and the former head of the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) have demanded an immediate extension of the World Trade Organization's 12th ministerial conference (MC12) Ministerial Decision on the TRIPS Agreement to diagnostics and therapeutics.

WTO : MC13 likely to be held in United Arab Emirates in February 2024. (PRIV)
(D. Ravi Kanth, Geneva)
Members of the World Trade Organization on 15 December apparently agreed to host the WTO's 13th ministerial conference (MC13) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in February 2024, and the 14th ministerial conference (MC14) in Cameroon sometime in 2026, said people familiar with the development.

UN : Rural households increasingly affected by Ukraine war, says FAO (PRIV)
(Kanaga Raja, Geneva)
After eight months of active war, rural households in Ukraine are increasingly affected by the negative impact of the conflict, according to a new survey released by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).