GENEVA: Countries were on Tuesday painstakingly tweaking the text of a hoped-for landmark agreement on tackling future pandemics, amid fears that US tariffs on pharmaceuticals could still derail the long-negotiated deal.
After more than three years of talks, and a marathon session last week, observers had hoped Tuesday would be about dotting some i’s and crossing some t’s.
But the talks at the World Health Organization headquarters in Geneva were advancing slower than expected.
Five years after the Covid-19 pandemic hit, killing millions of people and devastating economies, experts stress the urgent need for an accord as new health threats lurk, ranging from H5N1 bird flu to measles, mpox and Ebola.
There are also fears that deep cuts to US foreign aid spending could weaken global health, and that its threatened tariffs on pharmaceuticals could jeopardize the hard-won consensus already reached on swaths of the text.
One of the main remaining sticking points was Article 11, which deals with technology transfer for production of health products for pandemics — particularly to benefit developing countries, several sources told AFP.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, poorer countries accused rich nations of hoarding vaccine doses and tests.
A number of countries that are home to large pharmaceutical industries have meanwhile strenuously opposed the idea of mandatory tech transfers, insisting they be voluntary.
Early Saturday, after five days and a full night of negotiations, it appeared consensus had been reached by adding in that any tech transfer needed to be “mutually agreed.”
But several sources told AFP that the discussions had since hit a bump after pharma-hosting countries began demanding that this phrase be added to parts of the text already agreed upon.
“Today the pharma industry and its G7+ allies are proposing that every mention of technology transfer also mention mutually agreed,” James Packard Love, head of the NGO Knowledge Econology International, said on the Bluesky social network.
“This is a terrible outcome and a huge reverse from Saturday’s text.”
The talks were taking place behind closed doors at the WHO headquarters, but delegates frequently stepped out for informal discussions in the corridors, huddling over coffee and pizza as they tried to unblock the sticky bits.
A group of African delegates gathered in the hallway around the French vice-chair of the talks, while others engaged in lively discussion with WHO’s chief legal adviser Steve Solomon.
The negotiations are taking place as the global health system finds itself in deep crisis after the United States, long the world’s top donor, slashed its foreign aid spending.
Washington has not taken part in the negotiations, since President Donald Trump decided on his first day in office in January to begin withdrawing from the United Nations’ health agency.
The US presence, and not least Trump’s threat to slap steep tariffs on pharmaceutical products, nonetheless hangs over the talks, making manufacturers and their host countries all the more jittery.
But NGOs insist it is time to close the deal.
“Although the agreement went through several compromises, it includes many positive elements,” medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said Tuesday.
Michelle Childs, Director of Policy Advocacy at the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), voiced hope countries would cross the finish line.
“It would be a first in the history of international agreements,” she said, in its recognition that when countries fund research and development of vaccines and other medical products, you “need to attach conditions to that funding that ensure public benefit.”
If an agreement is sealed, the text will be ready for final approval at the WHO’s annual assembly next month.
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Pandemic treaty talks inch toward deal
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Pandemic treaty talks inch toward deal
- The talks at WHO headquarters in Geneva were advancing slower than expected
- Five years after the Covid-19 pandemic hit, killing millions of people and devastating economies, experts stress the urgent need for an accord as new health threats lurk
Venezuela interim leader sacks industry minister, a Maduro ally
CARACAS: Venezuela’s interim president on Friday dismissed businessman Alex Saab, a close ally of deposed leader Nicolas Maduro, from his post as minister of industry.
In a Telegram message, Delcy Rodriguez announced the ministry would be combined with a commerce ministry and thanked Saab — a Colombian-born Venezuelan — “for his service to the Homeland; he will be taking on new responsibilities.”
The change comes amid pressure from Washington following the January 3 US military raid that ousted Maduro.
Saab, released in 2023 as part of a prisoner exchange with the United States, was appointed to office in 2024 by Maduro.
He had been arrested in Cape Verde in 2020 due to an Interpol notice over accusations he had served as a money launderer for the socialist leader.
He was subsequently extradited to the US, where he and his business partner Alvaro Pulido were charged with running a network that exploited food aid destined for Venezuela.
Saab’s dismissal is among the latest key changes to Venezuela’s government by Rodriguez since the US capture of Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores.
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado meanwhile said her country is starting a “true transition” to democracy and will become free with support from the United States and President Donald Trump.
Trump however has sidelined Nobel laureate Machado and backed former vice president Rodriguez as interim leader of the oil-rich country following the seizure of Maduro.
“We are definitely now into the first steps of a true transition to democracy,” Machado said during an event in Washington, adding that this will have an “immense impact in the lives of all Venezuelans” as well as around the region and the world.
“Venezuela is going to be free, and that’s going to be achieved with the support of the people of the United States and the president, Donald Trump,” Machado said.
Her party has presented evidence that Maduro stole the 2024 election — claims supported by Washington and much of the international community.
But Trump has said that Machado does not have enough support among Venezuelans, and opted to stick with Rodriguez so long as she toes the line on US access to Venezuela’s vast oil reserves.
Machado said Friday that Rodriguez is “following orders” rather than acting of her own will.
The opposition leader’s remarks came a day after US Central Intelligence Agency chief John Ratcliffe met Rodriguez in Caracas.
Ratcliffe traveled to Venezuela to “deliver the message that the United States looks forward to an improved working relationship,” a US administration official said on condition of anonymity.
- Nobel medal -
In an indication of that improved relationship, a US deportation flight carrying 231 Venezuelans landed in Caracas on Friday, the first since Maduro’s overthrow.
Trump has made cracking down on undocumented immigrants a major part of his second term, carrying out sweeping immigration raids and deporting migrants.
Machado, 58, on Thursday presented her Nobel Peace Prize medal to Trump in a bid to win over the US president.
“He deserves it,” she said. “And it was a very emotional moment, I decided to present the Nobel Peace Prize medal on behalf of the people of Venezuela.”
It was not immediately clear if Trump — who said Friday that he and Machado will “be talking again” — kept the award following their White House lunch. The Norwegian Nobel committee says its prizes cannot be transferred.
Trump had campaigned hard to win last year’s prize, falsely claiming that he stopped eight wars since taking office, but it went to Machado instead.
Trump and Rodriguez had their first telephone call on Wednesday and the White House said he “likes what he’s seeing” from her.
Rodriguez said however that her government will stand up to Washington.
“We know they are very powerful... we are not afraid to confront them diplomatically, through political dialogue,” she said Thursday.
Rodriguez was delivering Maduro’s state of the nation address to parliament while the long-time authoritarian leader is in a New York jail facing drug trafficking charges.
By contrast Machado, who campaigned for years to end leftist Maduro’s rule, was greeted by jubilant supporters in Washington.
In a Telegram message, Delcy Rodriguez announced the ministry would be combined with a commerce ministry and thanked Saab — a Colombian-born Venezuelan — “for his service to the Homeland; he will be taking on new responsibilities.”
The change comes amid pressure from Washington following the January 3 US military raid that ousted Maduro.
Saab, released in 2023 as part of a prisoner exchange with the United States, was appointed to office in 2024 by Maduro.
He had been arrested in Cape Verde in 2020 due to an Interpol notice over accusations he had served as a money launderer for the socialist leader.
He was subsequently extradited to the US, where he and his business partner Alvaro Pulido were charged with running a network that exploited food aid destined for Venezuela.
Saab’s dismissal is among the latest key changes to Venezuela’s government by Rodriguez since the US capture of Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores.
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado meanwhile said her country is starting a “true transition” to democracy and will become free with support from the United States and President Donald Trump.
Trump however has sidelined Nobel laureate Machado and backed former vice president Rodriguez as interim leader of the oil-rich country following the seizure of Maduro.
“We are definitely now into the first steps of a true transition to democracy,” Machado said during an event in Washington, adding that this will have an “immense impact in the lives of all Venezuelans” as well as around the region and the world.
“Venezuela is going to be free, and that’s going to be achieved with the support of the people of the United States and the president, Donald Trump,” Machado said.
Her party has presented evidence that Maduro stole the 2024 election — claims supported by Washington and much of the international community.
But Trump has said that Machado does not have enough support among Venezuelans, and opted to stick with Rodriguez so long as she toes the line on US access to Venezuela’s vast oil reserves.
Machado said Friday that Rodriguez is “following orders” rather than acting of her own will.
The opposition leader’s remarks came a day after US Central Intelligence Agency chief John Ratcliffe met Rodriguez in Caracas.
Ratcliffe traveled to Venezuela to “deliver the message that the United States looks forward to an improved working relationship,” a US administration official said on condition of anonymity.
- Nobel medal -
In an indication of that improved relationship, a US deportation flight carrying 231 Venezuelans landed in Caracas on Friday, the first since Maduro’s overthrow.
Trump has made cracking down on undocumented immigrants a major part of his second term, carrying out sweeping immigration raids and deporting migrants.
Machado, 58, on Thursday presented her Nobel Peace Prize medal to Trump in a bid to win over the US president.
“He deserves it,” she said. “And it was a very emotional moment, I decided to present the Nobel Peace Prize medal on behalf of the people of Venezuela.”
It was not immediately clear if Trump — who said Friday that he and Machado will “be talking again” — kept the award following their White House lunch. The Norwegian Nobel committee says its prizes cannot be transferred.
Trump had campaigned hard to win last year’s prize, falsely claiming that he stopped eight wars since taking office, but it went to Machado instead.
Trump and Rodriguez had their first telephone call on Wednesday and the White House said he “likes what he’s seeing” from her.
Rodriguez said however that her government will stand up to Washington.
“We know they are very powerful... we are not afraid to confront them diplomatically, through political dialogue,” she said Thursday.
Rodriguez was delivering Maduro’s state of the nation address to parliament while the long-time authoritarian leader is in a New York jail facing drug trafficking charges.
By contrast Machado, who campaigned for years to end leftist Maduro’s rule, was greeted by jubilant supporters in Washington.
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