Brussels, 18/09/2013 (Agence Europe) - Nearly 5,000 NGOs, led by Act Up, Oxfam International and Health Action International, agricultural activists and Thai civil society associations, are conducting a campaign to defend access to public goods as part of the future free-trade agreement. The campaign is being conducted on the sidelines of the second round of negotiations for a free-trade agreement between the EU and Thailand in Chiang Mai this week.
Health activists particularly are opposed to inclusion in the agreement of clauses on intellectual property going beyond the obligations of the WTO's TRIPS agreement. “Such provisions would only reinforce monopolies of multinational pharmaceutical companies, increase the price of medicines and create new access barriers to cheap generic medicines”, they state. In place since 2002, a system of universal health coverage covers 99% of the population, thanks to “the production and availability of affordable and quality generic medicines”, they stress. (EH/transl.fl)