Nepali experts asked pharmaceutical industries to utilize the concessions given by the World Trade Organization (WTO) to the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in order to be global exporters, The Rising Nepal (TRN), the English language daily, reported on Thursday.

"Nepali pharmaceutical industries can produce the copied version of new medicines manufactured in developed countries without giving patent rights to original company," the state-run TRN quoted Ratnakar Adhikari, Nepali trade expert at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) based in Srilanka, as saying.

The LDCs including Nepal should not grant the patent rights to such products till 2016 as per the WTO agreement under Doha Development Agenda (DDA) whereas the developing countries like China, Pakistan and India are bound to provide such rights since 2005, Adhikari noted.

DDA were presented in the WTO ministerial held in Qatari capital of Doha in 2001.

"Nepal can export such medicines to other LDCs and non-WTO member countries including Bangladesh, Laos, Russia and several African countries," Adhikari said, adding "Nepal's possibility of exporting such medicines globally is high as Nepal produces medicines one of the cheapest prices in the world."

"However, it is an uphill task for Nepali industries, as they should invest heavily for the industrial infrastructures, marketing and registration of company and medicines in the foreign countries, said Pradeep Man Vaidya, president of the Association of Pharmaceutical Industries of Nepal (APON), a non-government organization.

"As Nepal's relation with African countries is too limited, we are not confident to export there immediately," he added.

Source: Xinhua