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OSI Sponsors Meeting on Access to Medicines, Trade Negotiations, and Intellectual Property Rights in Ukraine

Date:
September 21, 2009

Government officials and civil society representatives from Eastern Europe and Central Asia met in Kyiv, Ukraine, on September 21-22 to discuss trade negotiations, intellectual property rights, and access to essential medicines. The meeting was convened by the Open Society Institute's Access to Essential Medicines Initiative, American University's Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Approximately 50 participants from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Ukraine, attended the meeting. Each of the countries are undertaking or seriously considering Free Trade Agreement or World Trade Organization accession negotiations.

At the meeting’s conclusion, the participants issued a resolution calling on governments, legislators, civil society, aid organizations, universities, and research organizations to recognize that trade agreements can raise prices and block access to medicines, and to take steps in the future to protect access to medicines from overreaching trade policy. 

A detailed overview of the meeting, including copies of presentations, is available on the UNDP website.

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