African Heads of States and Governments convened in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 23-30 January 2012 to launch a continent-wide free trade agreement (CFTA). The Summit focused on solutions to the numerous impediments that hinder intra-African trade including: trade facilitation, productive capacity, trade related infrastructure and trade policy. In this article, the author calls for greater regional integration given African countries smaller markets. Africa’s regional economic communities are adopting uniform policies among their members but they are expected to trade with the rest of the world under various international trade regimes, which is argued to undermine regional integration and trade diversification. The author observes that trade preferences should be viewed only as a temporary arrangement – what is needed is to extend the period of the current trade regimes (say until 2020) and consolidate their conditions in a manner that supports manufacturing and consolidates regional markets. International partners and African countries should adopt a policy that revolves around access to high-income and emerging market countries linked to progress in integration with neighbouring countries.
Health equity in economic and trade policies
Botswana's health minister Edwin Dikiloti said on Friday in an address to parliament that the government was paying the equivalent of $15 a dose for the COVID-19 vaccine developed by China's Sinovac Biotech and almost $29 a dose for U.S. company Moderna's vaccine. The minister added that the COVAX facility co-led by the WHO had only delivered 82000 doses despite an upfront payment the government had made as a self-financing participant, in the hopes of securing far more doses. An AU arrangement is expected to deliver over 1.1 million doses of Johnson & Johnson's vaccine in the third and fourth quarters. Apart from the vaccines paid for, the Indian government donated 30000 doses of the COVISHIELD vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India and China donated 200000 doses of Sinovac's vaccine, while Botswana is in talks with Pfizer about a possible 2 million dose deal. In 2019, Botswana had a total population of 2.3 million people.
Big Pharma could land billions of dollars in annual sales that it would have lost to generic competitors thanks to a Food and Drug Administration backlog of applications for generic drugs. The article dissects the potential advantages and disadvantages, including it being bad news for generic drug makers like the industry leader Teva Pharmaceuticals, but great news for Big Pharma companies which can continue to sell their branded drugs after their patents have expired without any generic competition.
Amid news that the President of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, today will announce Brazil’s intention to issue a compulsory license for Merck’s HIV/AIDS drug Efavirenz, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest US provider of HIV/AIDS healthcare, education and prevention and operator of free AIDS treatment clinics in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean and Asia, hailed the move as a victory for global AIDS activism and AIDS patients worldwide.
The Brazilian Patent Office has rejected a patent application by Gilead on the drug tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF), in a move that could increase access to a key HIV/AIDS medicine across the developing world. The decision means that the medicine can now be produced by Brazilian generic companies or imported from other generic sources from abroad. This is the first time that a patent related to an antiretroviral (ARV) medicine has been rejected as a result of a pre-grant opposition in Brazil. The patent office in Brazil rejected it on the grounds that it lacks inventiveness – one of the key requirements for a patent in Brazilian and international patent law. The consequences extend far beyond Brazil’s borders and may set a precedent for other developing nations.
In this paper the author argues that Brazil follow the same route as India and continue to adopt and apply the regime of absolute novelty to prevent non-innovative patents from being unduly granted. They argue that the patent system should respect Constitutional duties to promote technological, economic and social development, especially as Brazil’s path has implications for other developing countries that are affected by intellectual property rights related to medicines and other pharmaceutical products.
The World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) committee on the protection of indigenous knowledge, expressions and genetic resources failed to reach consensus on future work at their meeting held from 29 June to 3 July, effectively postponing the issue till the WIPO General Assemblies in September. The mandate of the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC) expires this year and deciding the next mandate of the group was the key task at the meeting. Some countries wanted to see the text of a possible agreement before deciding what kind of form it might take (such as an instrument or a database), while others wanted to set a goal of a legally binding international instrument and then work on its text. Informal consultations are planned in the interim between now and the assemblies in late September, though details are unclear. Whether the committee still had a mandate after the meeting was a point of confusion, though it appears that the mandate may carry until the end of December.
In South Africa, at a time when National Health Insurance should be generously funded (7 years after its approval as public policy by the ruling party), the author argues in this paper that state fiscal austerity appears certain to nip the initiative in the bud. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund issued separate reports about South Africa in late 2014, following a new finance minister's mid-term budget speech. In justifying austerity, they revealed 2 important conceptual blockages regarding inequality and international financial relations, giving neoliberal policy advocates intellectual weaponry to impose deeper austerity. In contrast, it is suggested that a "united front" of labour, community-based and social movement activists, along with a vigorous left opposition party in Parliament, could ensure that the class struggle ratchets up in intensity in the years ahead.
According to this article, the BRICS Durban summit in March 2013 marks the point at which the five BRICS powers have carved up the African continent with one common objective: efficient resource extraction through export-oriented infrastructure. The new ‘BRICS Bank’ has cost US$50 billion in start-up capital and comes nine months after $75 billion was wasted by the BRICS powers by bailing out the International Monetary Fund in a manner that shrunk both Africa’s voting share and prospects for world economic recovery. BRICS countries aimed to set up a ‘Bank of the South’. This was dreamt of by the late Hugo Chavez although repeatedly sabotaged by more conservative Brasilia bureaucrats and opposed by Pretoria. the author asks, however, whether this will be any different than Washington’s twin banks? He argues that it will not, if one considers South Africa’s precedent, the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), which lost R370 million ($41 million) in 2012, promoted privatisation of water and toll roads, and turned a blind eye to construction industry collusion. The author warns that Africa could become an even more violent battleground for conflicts between BRICS firms intent on oil, gas and minerals extraction.
The July BRICS Summit ratified an agreement on the establishment of a $100 billion BRICS pool of currency reserves, according to a document published early May 2015. It is reported that the bank will invest primarily in infrastructure projects in both BRICS and non-BRICS countries. The establishment of its first regional office in Johannesburg will give access to the Africa, where infrastructure development needs are highest. The idea to set up BRICS bank was first proposed by India and that topped the agenda at the summit of the group in New Delhi in March 2012. India believes a joint bank would be in line with the growing economic power of the five-nation group. The bank could firm up the position of BRICS as a powerful player in global decision-making. India believes that a BRICS bank could, among others, issue convertible debt, which would arguably be top-rated and can be bought by central banks of all BRICS countries. BRICS countries would thus have a vessel for investment risk-sharing.