Bangladesh, Feb. 26 -- Zimbabwe has formally withdrawn from negotiations over a proposed $367 million health funding agreement with the United States, describing the offer as “lopsided” and incompatible with the principles of sovereign partnership. The decision, announced by government spokesperson Nick Mangwana on February 25, follows what officials characterized as a comprehensive inter-ministerial review of the draft arrangement.

According to Mangwana, the southern African nation concluded that the terms of the five-year agreement were asymmetrical and did not provide adequate guarantees of reciprocal benefit. At the heart of the dispute were provisions requiring Zimbabwe to share biological resources and epidemiological d...