Examination of Witnesses
(Questions 500-502)
Monday 9 June 2003
DR ROB
DAVIES, MR
BAGUDI TOLO,
MS CONNIE
SEPTEMBER AND
MR MARK
LOWE
Q500 Chairman: Is it your view that
developing countries are, to a certain extent, being pressurised
into making GATS commitments? There has been some considerable
debate here as to the impact of GATS on countries. Some commentators
argue there is absolutely nothing to worry about and these are
perfectly sensible, proportionate agreements, and others argue
this is a way in which countries are, for example, being forced
to privatise services that they would not otherwise wish to privatise.
What is your impression so far as South Africa is concerned?
Dr Davies: The way that GATS is
operating is largely on the positive list system, you opt in.
But the problem with that is that if you decide not to opt in
then there are all kinds of questions and market perception and
rating agency perceptions and things like that and therefore although
there may not be a formal pressure you may find yourself under
pressure through market movements and things of that sort to confirm
to a norm which is essentially not anything which I think we would
generally regard as driven by the needs of promoting development.
By and large I think there are some concerns about some of the
direction that the GATS is moving in.
Q501 Chairman: To what extent is
progress on TRIPS and on Public Health a priority for countries
such as South Africa? What do you see as the prospects for a development
friendly agreement on TRIPS and public health? What do you suggest
is needed to achieve such an outcome?
Dr Davies: I must say that many
of us who were at Doha almost thought that the issue had been
resolved at Doha, only to find later on in the post-Doha process
the old devils are in the detail. Something which we thought would
move quite quickly and which would culminate in an early agreement
appears to be held up on this issue of generic drugs going to
countries which are not producers from countries that are producing
generic drugs. I think we think it is important that this issue
is resolved quickly. We understand, or at least my information
shows us, that it is largely multinational pharmaceuticals based
in the US that are holding us up. I think that it would be a very
important signal for Cancu«n if this issue was resolved satisfactorily
and I think that for this to occur there must be a recognition
that people's health needs must be put above the profits of multinational
pharmaceuticals, frankly.
Q502 Chairman: Thank you very much.
Those are the topics that we wanted to cover, is there anything
that any of your parliamentary colleagues would like to add or
is there anything that you would like to add more generally that
we have not managed to adduce already by our questions or you
have not submitted by way of your written brief? Most of your
written brief will form part of the written evidence which goes
with our Report. Is there anything that we have not covered that
you would like to comment on or is there anything that colleagues
would like to add which we have not sufficiently explored?
Dr Davies: Well, let me ask my
colleagues.
Mr Lowe: No, nothing.
Ms September: No, nothing to add.
Mr Tolo: No, you have spoken.
Dr Davies: I think that is more
or less our message, I think we have covered most of the points.
Chairman: It is a very clear and coherent
message. Thank you very much for giving up time to be with us
this afternoon and I hope it is an exercise we can repeat from
time to time during our various inquiries. As you know, we are
tasked with monitoring and scrutinising how the United Kingdom
spends its international budget so help from Parliamentary colleagues
like yourselves is very much appreciated. With that I simply say,
order, order.
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