NICARAGUA UNLIKELY TO SUPPORT U.S. POSITION ON IPR ISSUES

UNCLAS MANAGUA 002086 SIPDIS SIPDIS USDOC FOR 4332/ITA/MAC/WH/MSIEGELMAN 3134/ITA/USFCS/OIO/WH/MKESHISHIAN/BARTHUR STATE PASS USTR COMMERCE PASS USPTO E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KIPR ETRD ECON NU SUBJECT: NICARAGUA UNLIKELY TO SUPPORT U.S. POSITION ON IPR ISSUES IN THE WHO REFS: A. SECSTATE 121503; B. MANAGUA 839 ¶1. Summary: Econoff delivered Ref. A talking points to Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Development (MIFIC) officials on September 6 to inform them of the World Health Organization (WHO) Intergovernmental Working Group (IGWG) process on public health and IPR issues and to seek their support for pragmatic approaches to counter a negative IPR agenda expected to be offered by some countries at regional IGWG consultations in September. MIFIC officials responded that the best we could hope for is that Nicaragua would remain neutral on this issue. End Summary. ¶2. Econoff delivered Ref. A talking points to MIFIC officials on September 6 to inform them of the WHO IGWG process on public health and IPR issues and to seek their support for pragmatic approaches to counter a negative IPR agenda expected to be offered by some countries at regional IGWG consultations in September. In attendance for MIFIC were Sonia Somarriba, Director General for International Trade; Jesus Bermudez, Director for Trade Agreement Implementation; and Ambrosia Lezama Zelaya, former Director of the Intellectual Property Registry, now acting as Somarriba's Senior Advisor on IPR. ¶3. Zelaya told Econoff that at the IGWG meeting in Ottawa September 20-21, Nicaragua would be unlikely to publicly rebut objections voiced by others to IPR provisions included in our free trade agreement. She explained that access to medicines is an extremely sensitive issue for the Ortega Administration. She added that there was a severe shortage of medicines in Nicaragua, especially in the Atlantic coast region recently devastated by Hurricane Felix. She also noted that the amendment to the TRIPs Agreement to allow countries to export medicines under compulsory license to countries lacking local capacity, like Nicaragua, had not yet been approved. Zelaya promised to consult with Vice Minister Veronica Rojas, but she believes the best we could hope for is that Nicaragua would remain neutral on this issue. ¶4. Comment: MIFIC's core trade team has survived eight months of the Ortega Administration. Unlike many other ministries that have been gutted, MIFIC has kept its professional staff. However, these professionals now operate in a very different political environment than what existed during the Bolanos Administration. We can expect them to use their technical expertise to push the Sandinista economic agenda (Ref. B) through CAFTA-DR and international forums. End Comment. End text. TRIVELLI