The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) said it wants changes to the current intellectual property right system to protect the interests of developing countries. It will accordingly conduct an audit and formulate a negotiating position for COMESA member countries in their negotiations with the European Union for the Economic Partnership Agreements due to start in December 2005.
Protection of pharmaceutical patents may not be the biggest reason the Bush administration is struggling to line up congressional votes for a free trade agreement with five Central American countries and the Dominican Republic, but it remains critical to its passage.
Pakistan has refused to accept the inclusion of the Intellectual Property Rights issue in the proposed draft for a bilateral investment treaty (BIT) between the US and Pakistan, a senior government official told Daily Times.
The current government seems so eager to reach a free-trade agreement with the US that we fear it might be willing to forfeit Egyptian citizens' right to health.
The US has agreed to Bangladesh's proposal for exclusion of issues related to labour laws, environment and intellectual property rights from the main text of a proposed trade and investment framework agreement the two countries are likely to sign some time this year.
The US has asked Pakistan, under a draft proposed Bilateral Investment Treaty, to pay damages to US companies for their future investment in case of the infringement of intellectual property rights and unilateral cancellation of licences.
The plan to expand and better manage bilateral trade co-operation between the United States and Malaysia gains ground tomorrow with the first working-level meeting of the joint Trade and Investment Council.
Washington's refusal to recognise the right of Andean countries to demand compensation for the commercial use of their biological resources is standing in the way of negotiations for free trade between the United States, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.