Book Review (Spotlight Weekly)]

Seed of Monopoly

Impact of TRIPS Agreement on Nepal
Written by : Ratnakar Adhikary, Narayan Belbase and Yamuna Ghale
Published by : Pro Public and Action Aid Nepal
Price : Undisclosed, Pages : 149

BOOK

Tripping Over TRIPs

The book highlights the drawbacks of TRIPs agreement to developing countries

By A CORRESPONDENT

After the liberalization of trade, most of the developing countries like Nepal got some advantages in international trade and business.

One of the aims of trade liberalism is to promote economic development through better allocation of global resources and with greater efficiency. Due to increased competition among the countries, the least developed countries (LDCs) also had to incur many set backs when dealing with global economic giants.

A decade long experience has shown that the situation is not easy for the developing countries as they have to face stiff competition in the global market.

At a time when developing countries are complaining about the WTO's failure in promoting the free and fair trade around the world, the new book highlights the areas where developing countries are facing such situation. It also shows the way to protect their interest.

In the book, the authors hold the view that agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) is against the core principle of WTO which promotes the free competition among the countries of the world.

For the small countries like Nepal, the TRIPs agreement is going to do more harm than good. The authors also suggest officials of concerned ministries, the ways to protect the interest of Nepal.

With the aim to educate policy makers, bureaucrats, civil society organizations, academic circles and media about its impacts, the authors bring detailed aspects of the TRIPs.

According to authors, the TRIPs agreement provides monopoly rights to the Transnational Corporations of North to promote their welfare at the cost of vast majority of consumers, farmers, indigenous and business communities of the South. Added to this is the problem of piracy of the genetic resources, traditional knowledge, skills and practices, which TRIPs agreement accentuates.

"It is our belief that serious work is needed in the areas of bio-diversity registration, protection of indigenous knowledge, skills and practices before Nepal formally joins the WTO," say authors.

In the book, the authors have detailed some useful findings that could be helpful for policy-makers.