PARIS, Dec 24 (AFP) - French President Jacques Chirac urged "all countries, and in particular the United States" Tuesday to display a spirit of generosity and compromise to ensure that poor nations have access to life-saving drugs.
Chirac also deplored the failure of WTO talks in Geneva last week to reach an agreement to allow impoverished countries without pharmaceutical industries of their own to import cheaper generic copies of patented drugs to combat illnesses such as AIDS or malaria.
The French leader, according to a source in his office, "calls on all countries, and in particular the United States, to show a spirit of generosity and necessary compromise when talks resume early next year and to accept without delay a text that conforms to the Doha mandate."
World Trade Organization ministers meeting in the Qatari capital Doha in November 2001 launched a new round of global trade liberalization talks, which got under way this year.
At the same time they agreed in principle that the public health needs of poor countries battling epidemics should take precedence over patent rights held by big pharmaceutical companies.
But left unresolved was the situation of poor countries lacking pharmaceutical companies capable of producing medicines. They have sought the right to import generic drugs and it was in Geneva last week that representatives from WTO members gathered to work out a deal relaxing global patent rules to authorize such imports.
The Geneva talks broke off early last Saturday after the United States refused to go along with a draft declaration. WTO members agreed to resume negotiations early next year and the WTO's ruling General Council is scheduled to take up the question on February 10 and 11.
US representatives in Geneva held out for more specific wording in the draft statement, which in its current form would apply to "public health problems... especially those resulting from HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other epidemics."
Washington feared that the formulation could allow drugs for non-infectious illnesses such as diabetes or asthma to be included under the new export regulations.
The expanded focus in the draft text, according to the United States, could allow wealthy countries to override a broad range of drug patents on such products as Viagra.
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