India Calls an emergency meeting of WTO’s General Council to discuss COVID packages

India has called for an emergency meeting of WTO’s General Council to discuss WTO’s proposed response package, along with a patent waiver proposal to deal with the pandemic. The meeting will take place this month in Geneva. 

WTO also known as the World Trade Organisations is a 164 member multilateral body, which sets the rules for global trade and adjudicates disputes among two or more than two countries on their trade-related issues.

In October 2020, India and South Africa submitted a proposal in which it suggested a waiver for all WTO member countries to implant certain provisions of the TRIPs agreement. The waiver included the prevention, containment or treatment of Covid-19. 

The officials have said that they have called a meeting with the WTO’s General Council for the discussion on its response package to deal with the pandemic. The meeting will start on January 10 and the officials have suggested having the meeting immediately. 

According to the report of UNCTAD Trade and Development, the developing countries quill be as much as $8 trillion poorer by 2025, because of Covid-19.