USTR Talks With Indian Counterpart On Increasing Vaccine Production, WTO Waiver

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th May, 2021) US Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai talked with her Indian counterpart about the Biden administration's plan to increase coronavirus vaccine production to help India deal with the surge of cases and issues pertaining to intellectual property rights regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, the Office of USTR said in a statement on Friday.

"United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai today met virtually with India's Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal to discuss increasing vaccine production and 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," the statement said.

India has reported a significant increase of people who have tested positive for the coronavirus and healthcare facilities stretched thin with frontline workers scrambling for resources.

Tai expressed deep sympathies to the Indian people given the number of cases and subsequent deaths, the release said.

The two officials also discussed the idea of waiving intellectual property right protections for coronavirus vaccines, an issue that has been recently discussed by WTO members, the release added.

Tai welcomed Goyal's effort to resubmit the waiver proposal to the organization, according to the release.