[Ip-health] FT: US and France Clash Over Cheap AIDS Drugs

[Mike Palmedo]

http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=3DFT.com/StoryFT/FullStor=
y&c=3DStoryFT&cid=3D1087373691569

US and France clash over cheap Aids drugs

By Geoff Dyer in Bangkok, Guy de Jonqui=E8res in London and Robert Graham
in Paris
Published: July 13 2004 17:50

The US and France clashed on Tuesday over allegations by President
Jacques Chirac that Washington was seeking to use bilateral trade
agreements to reduce developing countries' access to cheap medicines for
diseases such as HIV/Aids.

In a message to an international Aids conference in Bangkok, Mr Chirac
accused the US of "blackmail" and of undermining a World Trade
Organisation agreement last year that authorised poor nations to
override patents when obtaining supplies of essential medicines.

"Making certain countries drop these measures in the framework of
bilateral trade negotiations would be tantamount to blackmail," Mr
Chirac said. He called for full implementation of the WTO accord.

Robert Zoellick, US trade representative, strongly denied the charges,
saying Washington's bilateral trade accords with countries in Central
America and elsewhere explicitly respected the terms of the WTO agreement.

While the US was encouraging trade partners to strengthen protection of
intellectual property rights, he said its efforts had led to higher
foreign investment and increased flows of pharmaceuticals products to
their markets.

"I guess my response to France would be that I wish they would quit
trying to undermine the rest of the world economy with agricultural
exports and to divert attention with issues like this," Mr Zoellick said
in a telephone interview.

He urged France to support efforts to open international markets and
accused its government of taking "a rather parochial view" by favouring
"national champion" policies towards its pharmaceutical industry.

The US is currently negotiating a trade agreement with Thailand and has
signed deals with countries including Jordan, Chile, Morocco, Bahrain,
Singapore, Australia and a group of Central American nations.

Mr Chirac's message was a robust restatement of French policy following
his attempts to make Aids a priority at last year's G8 summit in Evian,
which he hosted.

The French mistrust the conditions attached to US President George W.
Bush's $15bn programme to fight Aids in Africa and the Caribbean, and
have sought every opportunity to demonstrate that it is not as generous
as the US suggests.