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LETTER: Society groups urge Minister Patel not to surrender to US and EU on the TRIPS WAIVER negotiations

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Society groups and individual South Africans have written to the Trade and Industry Minister, Ebrahim Patel and government calling them not to surrender to the United States (US) and European Union (EU) on the TRIPS WAIVER negotiations as it will among other reasons create a negative precedent for the global south.

In the letter the group says they learned through media leaks that, World Trade Organisation secretariat, EU, and US proposed a considerably weaker text as a solution to global health inequity during a pandemic.

They say as currently articulated, the draft text does not provide a meaningful solution to barriers presented by intellectual property that impede access, sharing of data, and technology on COVID-19 medical products.

This comes 17 months after the governments of South Africa and India proposed a temporary TRIPS WAIVER on IP rules for COVID-19 technologies to save lives in the global south.

Below is the Letter:

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