India on Thursday said temporary waiver of certain provisions of intellectual property rights under a WTO agreement would be an important step to enable scaling up of manufacturing and timely availability of affordable COVID-19 vaccines and essential medical products.
In view of the COVID-19 crisis, India and South Africa had on October 2 last year proposed in WTO a relaxation in norms of the TRIPS agreement to ensure quick and affordable access to vaccines and medicines for developing countries.
India welcomed the US government's support for this initiative.
"We are hopeful that with a consensus based approach, the waiver can be approved quickly at the WTO. The waiver is an important step for enabling rapid scaling up of manufacture and timely availability of affordable Covid-19 vaccines and essential medical products," the commerce and industry ministry said in a statement.
The proposal has received support of more than 120 countries.
"We welcome the US government supporting this initiative and joining 120 other countries working towards affordable COVID-19 vaccines," Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal tweeted.