Interests of Developing Countries Ignored:

Developing countries have taken some initiatives in some areas for putting forth  their  positive proposals  for improving  their situation  in  international  trade. But their proposals have not received priority attention  in the WTO. Important among them is the treatment given to what has been called the "implementa- tion issues",  as explained  below.

With the experience of the operation of the WTO agreements for nearly five years in end 1999, the developing countries prepared a set  of  nearly  one hundred proposals  to remedy the imbalances and  iniquities  in  the  WTO,  agreements. These proposals formed an integral part of the official document for  the Seattle Ministerial Conference  in December 1999  and came  to be known as  "implementation  issues". The Doha Ministerial Declaration  (2001) attached "the utmost importance" to  them and yet  they have not been on  the central stage  in  the WTO. They  have  been mired  in technical and procedural squabbles. Similar has been the fate of  the proposal for checking  bio-piracy. Some  times the multinational firms get patents registered for some  products and processes based on  the plant and animal resources of the developing countries. They derive huge financial gain out of this process, but they do not share  it with the country of origin of such resources. In  fact, in several cases the country of origin comes to know about the patents much later. The developing countries have given proposals  that the country  of origin ~mst  be disclosed at the  time of making application for the patent and  it should  be  the  obligation  of  the applicant to share the hancial benefit of patent with the country of origin.

Though this important proposal is on record,  it has not  received  adequate attention and has not been taken up with priority.