Abstract
This research examines India's negotiation strategy on the proposal to waive the TRIPS Agreement (TRIPS waiver) at the WTO to deal with COVID-19. India, along with South Africa, submitted the TRIPS waiver proposal in response to the disparity of available medicines between developing and developed countries during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. India has played an important role in proposing TRIPS waiver in 2020. India’s historical legacy to the birth of TRIPS flexibility during the Uruguay Round 1989 and the Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health during the Doha Round 2001, making it interesting to observe the dynamics of negotiation and strategies used to include the TRIPS waiver in the Ministerial Conference 12. This research demonstrates that India has failed to use mixed-distributive strategy during the negotiation and then it shifts to apply integrative strategy due to the Quadrilateral type of negotiation, tight deadline affected by negotiation deadlock, and pressure of green room negotiation during the TRIPS waiver negotiation. The research utilizes the concepts of distributive and integrative strategy, as well as the dual concern model, to identify India's strategy and elaborate transformation. This research aims to contribute to the discussion of how developing countries like India navigate multilateral trade negotiation in WTO amidst contested interest between the Global North and South and elaborating strategy used during the process of negotiation.
References
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Valbona, M. (2009). Dealing with Public Health and Intellectual Property for Pharmaceuticals at the World Trade Organization. In S. J. MacLean, S. A. Brown, & P. Fourie (Eds.), Health for Some: The Political Economy of global Health Governance. Palgrave Macmillan UK.
Wemos. (2022, February 1). EU proposal to the World Trade Organization. https://covid19response.org/eu-proposal-to-the-wto/.
World Health Organization (WHO). (2020). Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator commitments reach US$ 5.1billion following new contributions, including at Paris Peace Forum. https://www.who.int/news/item/13-11-2020-access-to-covid-19-tools- 58 accelerator-commitments-reach-us-5.1billion-following-newcontributions-including-at-paris-peace-forum.
World Trade Organization (WTO). (2022). Minutes of Meeting Held in the Centre William Rappard on 20 July 2021 IP/C/M/101/Add.1.
World Trade Organization (WTO). (n.d.(a)). Glossary – compulsory licensing. https://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/glossary_e/glossary_e.htm.
World Trade Organization (WTO). (n.d.(b)). Glossary – parallel imports. https://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/glossary_e/glossary_e.htm.
World Trade Organization (WTO). (n.d.(c)). https://docs.wto.org/dol2fe/Pages/FE_Browse/FE_B_009.aspx?TopLevel=4482.
World Trade Organization (WTO). (n.d.(d)). WTO-IMF COVID-19 Vaccine Trade Tracker. https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/covid19_e/vaccine_trade_tracker_e.htm.
Wu, X., & Khazin, B. P. (2020). Patent-related Actions Taken in WTO Members in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic. WTO Staff Working Paper ERSD-2020-12.
Yu, P. K. (2022). The COVID-19 TRIPS Waiver and the WTO Ministerial Decision. In J. Schovsbo (Ed.), TIMES OF CRISIS: LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC. Edward Elgar Publishing. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4150090.
Zacher, M. W., & Keefe, T. J. (2008). The Politics of Global Health Governance. Palgrave Macmillan UK.
Zarocostas, J. (2021). What next for a COVID-19 intellectual property waiver?. Lancet (London, England), 397(10288), 1871–1872. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(21)01151-X.
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