12:18 PM Nov 18, 1996

INTERNATIONAL MEET OPPOSES NEW ISSUES

New Delhi 15 Nov (TWN/Mahesh Prasad) -- An international non-official conference, attended by 35 delegates from 17 countries, called on developing countries to get their act together and oppose the introduction of new issues on the trade agenda at the WTO's Singapore Ministerial Conference (SMC) next month.

The Conference on the "New Patent System, Investment Regime and emerging new issues in WTO" was convened by India's Forum of Parliamentarians for Intellectual Property and National Working Group on Patent Laws and ended with a Declaration.

The Conference decided to set up an International Forum of Parliamentarians to keep in constant touch and provide "a strong and united opposition to the new colonialism" that is being unleashed through the Patent system, attempts at establishing a foreign investment regime and other emerging issues in the WTO.

The new issues being mooted for the SMC of the WTO, a declaration issued by the Conference said "contains issues of great concern for national interests of developing countries ... and can have far-reaching implications for the future development of South countries."

"Participants at the Conference," the declaration said, "were fully aware that the conclusion of the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations and the establishment of the WTO had completely reversed the process of international negotiations over the past four decades.

"Powerful vested interests, particularly the TNCs in the developed countries were, however, not satisfied with the results of the Uruguay Round and the establishment of the WTO. Faced with economic crisis, jobless growth and unprecedented levels of unemployment, they wanted to abridge further the sovereign rights of nation states in developing countries in critical areas of international trade, management of domestic economies and the pursuit of national development priorities.

"The developed countries are seeking to enlarge the opportunities, privileges and prerogatives of their business corporations to exploit the markets and natural resources, to enlarge their exports and exploit cheap labour of developing countries."

Briefing newsmen, the Chairman of the Conference, Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi M.P., said the European Union wanted to enlarge the scope of the WTO by introducing new issues like investment, social clause and environment.

Under the new investment regime, proposed by the developed countries, the TNCs would have no obligations, but only rights, while the host countries would have only obligations. Through such a mechanism, the developed countries not only wanted to control the economies of the developing countries, but also their culture.

Complaints were also voiced by several participants that the US was violating multilateralism through 'Super 301' and other draconian laws, and was saying that it would not go by what the WTO decides, but its own laws.

As for the patent regime, Joshi said, conference participants felt that each country could have its own patent regime and there should be no strait-jacket. Developing country participants had pointed out that the patent regime was creating monopolies and was harmful to the health-care schemes of the developing countries.

Mr. James Packard Love, Director of Economic Studies of the Centre for Study of Responsive Law, Washington, who was present at the press briefing said that prices of drugs in the US were prohibitive, so much so that there were proposals in the US Senate for compulsory licensing of drugs to bring down prices.

"We are working with consumer groups in Europe and throughout the world so that TRIPs should not be mandatory in health care," Love said. His Centre, with the cosponsorship of India, was hosting an international conference in the USA in March-April 1997, on the effect of TRIPs on health care. "This is a human rights problem as everyone has a right to live as a normal, healthy human being," he added.