to make TRIPS more development-friendly. The Doha
Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health,
signed at the outset of the Doha Round, recognized that
TRIPS “should be interpreted and implemented in a manner supportive of WTO members’ rights to protect public
health and, in particula r, to promote access to medicines for
all.” In 2005, WTO members reached a final agreement on
a modified version of TRIPS that would make it easier for
developing countries to import cheaper generic equivalents
of lifesaving medicines.
Canada, Norway, and the member nations of the
European Union are using TRIPS as the framework for their
own domestic intellectual property laws. In sharp contrast,
the United States has enacted more restrictive intellectual
property rights laws through bilateral trade agreements that
contain “TRIPS-plus” provisions. The North American Free
Trade Agreement, for example, does not offer flexibility to
modify or suspend patents or patent rules in cases of public
health emergencies. Under the free trade agreement (FTA)
between the United States and Jordan, obtaining a license for
domestic manufacture of generic drugs is more difficult than
it is under TRIPS.33 Similar provisions have been included
in bilateral FTAs between the United States and Singapore,
Morocco, Vietnam, and a host of other developing countries.
Such policies make it more difficult for poor people to obtain
essential medicines.
It is important for the United States to provide developing
countries with the flexibility they need to ensure that people
get affordable access to essential medicines. Achieving a
balance between efforts to protect intellectual property and
efforts to fight deadly infectious diseases will require that the
United States:
• Coordinate trade and development policies to
ensure access to medicines. All trade agreements
signed by the United States should provide the flexibility
needed to ensure access to essential medicines.
• Promote TRIPS, not TRIPS plus. The United States
should follow the lead of other countries and make
TRIPS the standard for intellectual property rights
rather than a platform to add additional requirements.
Conclusion
The United States provides strong leadership on
development assistance, but there is room to do more.
Commitment to development should extend to trade,
migration, intellectual property rights, and other areas.
Reforming U.S. foreign assistance can help achieve the
goal of aligning development with other policies that matter
to development. Currently, the highest levels of the U.S.
government do not have a clear way to see or focus on the
impact of our combined policies on the world’s poorest
6 Briefing Paper, August 2008
people. The U.S. Agency for International Development is
not empowered to call for the changes needed in areas such
as trade or migration. Creating more coherent policies for
development requires strong leadership from an individual
or agency empowered to work across agencies and
departments.
The United States needs to refocus foreign assistance on
poverty reduction and allot resources equal to the task. It
needs to consolidate development programs in one place
with a clear mandate. And it needs to ensure that all policies
that impact developing countries help rather than harm
them. These actions will contribute to global development
by investing U.S. tax dollars effectively in reaching the people
who need it most.
The Transfer of Technology
Millennium Development Goal Eight (Develop a
Global Partnership for Development) calls for developed
countries to share important technologies with
developing countries, another example of a partnership
that could dramatically improve development prospects
for poor people.
One area where technology transfer will play an
increasingly important role is climate change. A recent
report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) notes that developing countries will
be disproportionately affected by global warming,
particularly countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Helping
these countries mitigate the harmful effects of
climate change will require significant resources and
technologies. The technologies might include improved
cropping methods, seeds, fertilizers, irrigation systems,
and cultivation techniques. Strategies to improve forest
management and management of other sensitive
ecosystems are also important.
A model for successful transfer of agricultural
technologies already exists: the Consultative Group
on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), a
consortium of fifteen international agricultural research
centers. Funded mainly by developed countries, CGIARaffiliated research centers have helped to develop
and disseminate key agricultural technologies. These
technologies played a central role in Asia’s Green
Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s, lifting hundreds of
millions of people out of hunger and poverty.
As the IPCC report notes, “No single technology can
provide all of the mitigation potential in any sector.”34
The goal of technology transfer should be to provide
developing countries with options to manage climate
change and achieve sustainable development.