WIPO And ASEAN Review Joint Cooperation Activities

by Mary Swire, for LawAndTax-News.com, Hong Kong

20 September 2007

It was announced on Thursday that the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) have reviewed joint cooperation activities over the past year, and have explored further possibilities in enhancing the capacity of member nations to better exploit the intellectual property (IP) system for economic, social and cultural development.

This came at the 12th meeting of the WIPO – ASEAN Cooperation Program in the field of Intellectual Property, held on September 19, 2007.

WIPO Director General, Dr Kamil Idris, led the WIPO delegation and Ambassador Karen Tan, Permanent Representative to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Permanent Mission of the Republic of Singapore, Geneva, led the ASEAN delegation, in her capacity as current Chair of the ASEAN Geneva Committee (AGC).

WIPO and ASEAN formalized their cooperation in 1993 by establishing a consultation mechanism for cooperation in the field of IP. This mechanism provides for regular dialogue between WIPO and the AGC which includes ASEAN ambassadors and other senior officials in Geneva.

Together with WIPO’s regular participation in the ASEAN Working Group on Intellectual Property Cooperation (AWGIPC), this consultation process has been a strong influence in shaping the nature and scope of cooperation between WIPO and ASEAN.

The meeting endorsed priority areas identified by the AWGIPC for WIPO’s continued assistance, namely, IP administration, IP and public policy issues, IP awareness and education, enforcement of IPRs and studies and surveys on issues of particular interest to ASEAN. The meeting also emphasized the importance of WIPO’s support and cooperation in achieving the objectives of the ASEAN IPR Action Plan 2004-2010.

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