Mali has entered into a global WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) Wednesday and ratified a 2005 amendment to the World Trade Organization’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).
Following multiple other nations, Mali counts as the 68th. When two-thirds of the entire WTO membership signs off on the agreement, it will officially replace an older version of the protocol, drafted as a waiver in 2003.
A newer TFA was drafted in 2013 at a ministerial conference in Bali, providing for efficiency in transportation of goods worldwide and establishing rules of compliance for customs.
The 2005 Protocol Amending the TRIPS Agreement serves to officially implement a decision on patents and public health initiated in 2003. As part of the initiative, a Trade Facilitation Agreement Facility (TFAF) has been established to assist developing nations, which stand to gain significant economic benefits from the compact.
With its acceptance, Mali joins China, Singapore, the United States, Mauritius, Malaysia, Japan, Australia, Botswana, Trinidad and Tobago, the Republic of Korea, Nicaragua, Niger, Belize, Switzerland, Chinese Taipei, China, Liechtenstein, Lao PDR, New Zealand, Togo, Thailand, the European Union (on behalf of its 28 member states), the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Pakistan, Panama, Guyana, Côte d’Ivoire, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Kenya, Myanmar, Norway, Viet Nam, Brunei, Ukraine, Zambia, Lesotho, Georgia, Seychelles, and Jamaica.
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