February 20, 2003	Thursday	Zul Hijjah 18, 1423

GENEVA: George Bush’s close links with the drugs industry were blamed on Tuesday for the failure of talks in Geneva aimed at securing access to cheap medicines for developing countries.

Delegates at the World Trade Organization (WTO) expressed frustration after the US again rejected a deal that would have loosened global patent rules to enable poor countries to import cheap copies of desperately needed drugs.

“We believe that governments should maintain their distance and should not be directed by pressure groups,” one EU trade official said.

Negotiators said a solution to the deadlock lay in America’s hands.

The WTO’s 144 members agreed more than a year ago that countries could override patent rules in the interests of public health and license local producers to copy essential drugs. But they failed to spell out how countries with no manufacturing capacity would gain access to life-saving medicines.

A draft accord on imports was rejected by the US last December after lobbying from drugs firms, which fear that relaxing the rules to allow poor countries to import copycat drugs will help generics manufacturers in India and Brazil to steal their markets.

America’s counter proposal, limiting imports to drugs for a shortlist of diseases including HIV/Aids, malaria and tuberculosis, was rejected by developing countries as too restrictive.

Eduardo Motta, the Mexican envoy to the WTO, admitted the organization’s reputation had been damaged by the deadlock.—Dawn/The Guardian News Service.