TRIPS Council 10. December 2020. Agenda item no. 15. Statement by Norway.
Thank you, Chair.
Let me first of all thank you, Chair, for having facilitated discussions on this important topic over the last few weeks. I would also like to congratulate you on your efforts that resulted in consensus on your oral report to the General Council.
In relation to the current pandemic, Norway agrees that nobody’s safe until everybody’s safe. Ensuring a fair and equitable distribution of vaccines, diagnostics and medicines should have the highest priority. Norway is working hard to make this happen through various international cooperative efforts.
As to the issue at hand, we have listened carefully to the views expressed by Members in both formal and informal settings. We would like to thank those Members who have presented concrete questions to the proponents, and we would like to thank the proponents for their response. We consider this engagement to be promising and hope that we can continue our deliberations in a constructive mode.
In this context, we would be interested in learning from the proponents whether they are considering presenting a revised proposal, given that the chances of achieving consensus on the basis of the original proposal do not seem to be realistic.
Thank you.