Madam, - The next round of World Trade Talks is beginning in Mexico in the middle of September and I have been nominated to act as an negotiator for the European Parliament. I certainly hope that the countries participating at these negotiations, including the EU and the US, come to an agreement on one very sensitive issue.
There are 42 million people in the world who suffer from the AIDS virus, many of them in Africa. Yet, we have the technology and treatments available to combat diseases such as AIDS. If developing countries can be given the right to distribute these much-needed medicines to their own people on their own licensing terms, the costs of these medicines would be substantially reduced.
There is now a growing political will to introduce changes to the international intellectual property rights system so that drugs to combat AIDS can be given to those countries who do not have the money to pay for them.
We all know what our responsibilities are when it comes to the issue of combating AIDS and we must act accordingly. - Yours, etc.,
SEAN Ó NEACHTÁIN, MEP, Prospect Hill, Galway.