Trade ministers initialled a pact on medicine supplies for the next flu season. It covers a short list of drugs that a signatory cannot hold back with an export stop unless it gives notice and a reason. The list is deliberately small. A long list, negotiators said, would not have been signed.
Health ministries, who were in the room, cared less about the trade language than about the notice period. Four weeks is what they asked for. They got three. A senior official said three weeks is enough to start a tender and not enough to finish one.
What happens next
Manufacturers are not parties to the pact. They can still choose where to sell. What changes is a government’s ability to block the exit quietly. A quiet block is what left two buyers short last winter.
The text still needs cabinet approval in two of the four capitals. Ministers initialled it so the approval process starts from a fixed page rather than from another round of drafting.
Taj Today will update this report if the official numbers or the timetable change. Related coverage stays on the World page.
