A/HRC/36/19 24. That overprotectionism in the area of intellectual property rights was not irreversible. Governments and international organizations should work together in order to review and revise national laws and international agreements and treaties to see if there was any inconsistency between intellectual property rights and the realization of the right to health. 25. Mr. Zhan highlighted the need to build capacity to produce medicines in the lowincome countries, and outlined several challenges and policy recommendations. The challenges included: weak regulatory frameworks; insufficient financing partly because of poor risk-return profiles and the market sizes of individual countries; lack of policy coherence and fragmented institutional set-ups; lack of coordination and synergies among investment, health and trade and authorities; ineffective facilitation, often with no incentive and investment programmes; weak local productive capacity and supply networks to support investment; and, lastly, inadequate international support measures. 26. In response to those challenges, he discussed some of the policy recommendations that had been made by UNCTAD, which included: seeking new sources of financing, including social investment and partnerships between the development assistance agencies and the private sector, including generics producers; helping developing countries take advantage of TRIPs flexibilities; developing a new generation of investment promotion facilitation strategies and institutions; promoting regional cooperation for production and distribution in order to build economies of scale and to enlarge the market for consumption; and, lastly, forging partnerships with investors, Governments and international organizations. C. Interventions by representatives of Member States, Observer States and other Observers 27. During the ensuing discussion, statements were made by representatives of: Brazil, both on behalf of the Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries and on behalf of the country; Cuba; El Salvador, both on behalf of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States and on behalf of the country; European Union; Fiji; Indonesia, on behalf of Brazil, China, Egypt, Senegal, South Africa and Thailand; Iran (Islamic Republic of); Kuwait; Libya; Malaysia; Mexico; Pakistan, both on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and on behalf of the country; Portugal; Qatar; Republic of Korea; Russian Federation; Sierra Leone; Sudan; Togo; Tunisia, on behalf of the African Group; and United States. 28. Representatives of the following NGOs also contributed to the discussions: American Association of Jurists; Caritas Internationalis (International Confederation of Catholic Charities); Conectas Human Rights; Iraqi Development Organization; Réseau international des droits humains; and Swedish Association for Sexuality Education. 29. Many of the representatives of States reaffirmed their commitment to ensuring access to medicines as a fundamental element of the right to health. One such representative drew attention to the adoption of five resolutions by the Human Rights Council since 2009 that recognized such a commitment. Representatives underscored the importance of access to medicines for all in efforts to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 3, namely to ensure health and well-being for all, at every stage of life. The United Nations had an important role to play in addressing the lack of access to medicines. Several representatives took the opportunity to highlight some good practices in their own countries to promote access to medicines. Those included developing domestic capacity in health technology, facilitating South-South cooperation, providing technical training, promoting the marketing of generic medicines, and regulating and controlling prices. 30. In general, however, representatives of States painted a dire picture, highlighting that access to medicine and high-quality medical technology depended on where one lived. Several representatives drew attention to the fact that hundreds of millions of people, particularly women and children, were currently denied lifesaving health services. Lack of access to many medicines was not just confined to developing countries. All countries 6