SYDNEY, Nov 15 (AFP) - Leading trade ministers agreed Friday to meet the "moral obligation" of giving the world's poorest nations access to affordable medicines, a breakthrough in the effort to tackle global health crises like HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.
The deal came at a heavily-guarded meeting of trade ministers from 25 nations that was called to kickstart flagging efforts to liberalise global trade that was marked by sporadic clashes between police and anti-globalisation protestors.
Thai Commerce Minister Adisai Bodharamik confirmed the meeting had agreed to back changes that will allow some developing nations to manufacture generic drugs now protected by Western patents and export the medicines to other needy countries on a case-by-case basis.
"This is not an economic issue this is a moral obligation that needs to be undertaken by the developed world," Australian Trade Minister Mark Vaile told reporters.
The issue of access to medicines topped the agenda at the Sydney meeting, which was attended by several African countries such as Nigeria, Senegal and Lesotho which currently have to import expensive AIDS/HIV drugs from the West.
Also attending were ministers from the United States, the European Union and Japan, along with new director-general of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Supachai Panitchpakdi.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan had urged the ministers to agree on a proposal that could be put to the 145-nation WTO by December 31 and Vaile said he was confident the time frame could be met.
"We've got a clear deadline, that deadline is in sight and there is an outcome in sight," he said.
The WTO agreed at a summit in Doha, Qatar, a year ago to let developing nations override patents held by pharmaceutical companies in order to produce cheaper generic drugs in times of medical crises.
But it barred those countries from exporting the generic drugs, leaving the poorest states which have no pharmaceutical manufacturing capacity in the lurch.
Vaile said the consensus would allow developing countries access to drugs at an affordable rate while also ensuring the drugs were not diverted back in to wealthy markets.
He said concerns of the developed countries about maintaining the integrity of intellectual property and patents on pharmaceuticals had been met.
"They have shown great flexibility in what is an enormous problem in the developing world," Vaile said of the 25 ministers.
The drugs covered by the proposal would treat "epidemic proportion diseases" such as HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, with officials yet to determine which countries should get access and the mechanics of how the proposal would work, Vaile said.
It represents a compromise between developing nations that wanted to scrap the export controls on patented medicines comletely and the EU, United States and Switzerland, where large pharmaceutical industries feared their Western markets would be flooded with cheap, generic medicines.
The proposal would grant waivers on drug patents on a case-by-case basis.
A member of the US trade delegation said the drugs deal represented a success for the meeting.
"There is a broad consensus that the concerns of the poor countries are a priority that they will be working to address," the official told AFP.
Vaile, who has been very critical of farm subsidies in the European Union, Japan and Korea, said talks on agricultural trade barriers had been constructive and would dominate the second half Friday's meeting.
Outside the meeting, 35 people were arrested as scuffles broke out between riot police and anti-globalisation protestors who began ripping down barricades erected around the venue -- where Sydney hosted the 2000 Olympic Games.
More than 1,000 police maintained security for the meeting, amid fears of anti-globalisation protests and a heightened terrorist alert following threats from Osama bin Laden.
About 1,500 protestors ignored an official ban on demonstrations for the duration of the discussions and marched on the talks venue.
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