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WTO chief calls for more vaccine plants in developing countries – Metro US

WTO chief calls for more vaccine plants in developing countries

World Trade Organization (WTO) President Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala speaks during an
World Trade Organization (WTO) President Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala speaks during an interview in Potomac, Maryland.

GENEVA (Reuters) – The World Trade Organization’s new director-general said on Monday the trade body needs to work with companies to open up more manufacturing sites for COVID-19 vaccines in developing countries.

“People are dying in poor countries,” said Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in a speech to the WTO’s 164 members at a meeting in her first day in the job.

“We must focus on working with companies to open up and license more viable manufacturing sites now in emerging markets and developing countries,” she said, adding that technology transfers were also required.

(Reporting by Emma Farge; Editing by Philip Blenkinsop)