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Significant differences between rich and poor countries threaten progress on a key treaty to fight the pandemic, with officials warning that a May deadline to deliver the global pact may be missed.
“The biggest issue at the moment is whether we will be able to reach an agreement in May and what the consequences will be if we fail,” said one Western diplomat familiar with the process. Member states received a new draft of the text from the World Health Organization late on Friday, and the final round of talks is scheduled to be held at the end of March.
The officials said that sharing genomic data on pathogens and funding health systems during emergencies were among the biggest issues that sparked disagreements among negotiators.
The diplomat added: “The new text is a few steps forward and a few steps back.” “It doesn't bring us any closer to consensus.”
Failure to meet the May deadline would increase the political risk of the treaty collapsing. “Any extension will not make things easier as electoral pressures increase,” said another Western diplomat, referring to ballot boxes in the United States and other countries. The WHO's annual assembly will be held in Geneva on May 27 to decide on the final text, the proposed final step before signing the global agreement.
US Republican lawmakers criticized the treaty, saying it would diminish US sovereignty. Former US President Donald Trump threatened to completely withdraw Washington from the World Health Organization.
“the ghost [of Trump’s re-election] “It looms on the horizon and is very useful in focusing minds,” another diplomat said, adding “there is a fairly good chance it will be postponed” if the May deadline is not met.
One of the main points of contention centers around Section 12, which would create a genome repository. Poorer countries are pushing to contain a so-called pathogen access and benefit-sharing system, or Pabs, within the WHO, but richer countries say this is impractical, with a European diplomat saying there would be no “agreement” under the current wording. Other issues include concerns about pandemic funding.
A final session of the talks is scheduled for the second half of March, but the health authority may decide to add an additional session at the end of April, one of the people familiar with the discussions said.
He added: “The timing question is also whether agreements have been reached early enough [polish] They added the text of the final agreement. “It is in very poor shape from a legal and technical perspective.”
Jamie Love, president of health NGO Environmental Knowledge International, said that despite the interest in Article 12, countries are “closer to agreement than some think.”
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Wealthier countries, including the US, Japan, the UK and some EU countries, have blocked equalization measures on intellectual property and technology transfer in other parts of the agreement, he said, and “many developing countries see the BAPS as an area where they have influence.” .
“To the degree that [article] “This creates restrictions on access to knowledge about pathogens, and the blame can be placed on those high-income countries that have blocked other equity provisions,” he said.
Ellent Huynh, of the Medicines Law and Policy Research Group, said progress had been made in areas such as access to antivirals and vaccines, a serious issue during the pandemic, but she said the current text “only asks parties to encourage or incentivize them.” Knowledge sharing. . . It does not include any powers to ensure that this happens if encouragement or incentive does not work.”
Monday marked the four-year anniversary of the World Health Organization classifying the COVID-19 outbreak as a “pandemic.”
