CAIRO: Minister of Trade and Industry Rachid Mohammad Rachid has admitted that disagreements do exist with the United States over intellectual property rights on pharmaceutical products. In a statement released at the end of last week following his return from strategic dialogue meetings in Washington D.C., Rachid pointed out that the Egyptian Ministry of Health has showed active cooperation to protect intellectual property on the one hand and the interests of Egyptian drug makers on the other. Rachid added that Egyptian non-traditional exports to the US surged 90 percent during the first quarter of this year, boosted by the Qualified Industrial Zones agreement. Overall trade between Egypt and the United States exceeded $4 billion last year, while the US investments in Egypt mounted to $575 million. Hazem Sherif, TRIPS official at the Egyptian Ministry of Trade and Industry, pointed out that the US had disagreements not only with Egypt but with many other countries over the intellectual property rights related to pharmaceuticals. "Egypt will meet its obligations towards protection of intellectual property as long as it will not affect pricing of vital pharmaceuticals regardless of reservations from the US drug makers, Sherif said. Some of the US pharmaceutical companies had, in February 2005, pressurized the Egyptian government to refuse registration of 850 medical products for Egyptian companies for non-observance of intellectual property rights. Noozz
