The HAI Statement to INB 9 was delivered on 18 March by HAI Europe Association member, Patrick Durisch from Public Eye.

Thank you co-chair,

Health Action International (HAI) welcomes the opportunity to address the ninth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) and note positively that for the first time, after almost two years of talks, we will be discussing a proper negotiating text.  Now the concern is the looming deadline and how it may affect negotiations and outcome.

We appreciate the daunting task undertaken by the Bureau in bringing together disparate points of view, and the formidable challenge that lies ahead, mustering the support of most member-States around a common framework.

We note positively the acknowledgement of equity as a goal but would welcome explicit operational language. This lack of enforceability of key provisions, such as knowledge sharing, and the over-reliance on voluntary measures, poses a problem for the future effectiveness of the agreement. We must note the additional burden in terms of surveillance and monitoring placed on the shoulders of majority world countries with only vague references to technical assistance.

We welcome the endorsement of the One Health approach and the endorsement of TRIPS flexibilities as public policy instruments and commit our support to WHO initiatives of patent pooling and non-exclusive licensing as vectors for scaling up production of health technologies. Finally, we must express our concern regarding a number of instances in which multi- stakeholders alliances, coalitions and collaborations are mentioned, we believe that such endeavours should be pursued only under the strict principles of accountability, transparency and due diligence.

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