Hi,

We bring you a comprehensive update on the deliberations around the Pathogen Access Benefit Sharing System at the WHO, that took place in Geneva last week. The process has now entered a critical phase with a handful of negotiating days left on the calendar.

This is a supremely complex negotiation, that sits at the dazzling intersection of politics and commercial interests. We try to unpack the different influences to help you see the big picture, and bring you some color from behind-the-scenes. Also find country statements made at the close of the meeting that captured the dialectic around trust. Below, I also present the GHF View on this.

We will be following up with specific analyses on certain provisions subsequently.

Last week, I was gently reminded about the responsibility of the press in case these negotiations fail. (That, in my view maybe overstating the importance of the press!) I cannot speak for the press in general. At Geneva Health Files, it has been my every effort to capture nuance and detail as accurately as possible. We have no agenda apart from public interest. Does that makes us biased? I would contest that.

We always welcome and respect engagement even when we are being “told off”. We must write what we observe. Our readership deserves this.

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More soon!

Best,

Priti

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I. IGWG UPDATE

In A Bind: G6+ Vs Developing Countries. Tightrope on the Access to Pathogen Information & the Demand for Benefits

Slow progress in negotiations is potentially indicative of at least two things: one that the deliberations are deep and useful; second that neither side wants to move yet. Both of these could be true of the negotiations at the Fifth Meeting of the Intergovernmental Working Group set up to work towards a Pathogen Access Benefit Sharing system.

As countries got to the nubs of the discussions, issues such as user registration to track the access to pathogen information, licensing and technology transfer as benefits, among others, emerged as flashpoints in the negotiations. Although it appears that positions among the major camps (G6+ Vs pretty much the rest), are ostensibly still far apart, delegations may be closer than they currently reveal, based on the numerous conversations we have had during the meeting that concluded on Saturday last week.

Fundamental questions including the nature of this instrument are being raised, albeit somewhat belatedly, such as on its framing as an Access and Benefit Sharing system. The biggest concessions in these negotiations will include how countries will eventually agree on what the benefits flowing out of such a system will be.

We also witnessed shadow-boxing among non-state actors and how these have an impact on the negotiations. The question of databases and how data flows are governed, are solidly political, and near-central to how a PABS system will work.

In this story we try to delineate the various kinds of dynamics operating on these technical and yet political negotiations. We were onsite at WHO for most of the week speaking to a cross-section of delegations with the intention to capture a balanced picture in an effort to look past rhetoric and cold signalling. (To give you a sense of the breadth and depth of our reportage – this week we spoke to negotiators from about 35 of the most active countries in these talks.)

(In case you missed it, see our prior update on the meeting: Biodiverse Developing Countries Stake Claim to Global Health Security, Demand Clear Terms to Govern Access to Pathogen Information & Sharing of Benefits)