130. It is a pleasure to have the opportunity to speak this morning at this important meeting. First of all, on behalf of Myanmar, I would like to express special thanks to the WTO for its assistance to hold the Workshop on the Implementation of Article 66.2 of the TRIP Agreement, and also express thanks to the LDC participants for their presentations despite their busy schedules and finally thanks to all Members which presented at the Workshop and in this Council meeting.
131. The Government of Myanmar is exerting its best efforts for all-round development of the country by undertaking a series of political and economic reforms to achieve the vision of becoming a modern, democratic and developed country Member by 2030. Although Myanmar is a least developed country and lacks enough capacity building to fulfil its obligation as a Member of WTO, it is making every best effort.
132. Myanmar is also continuously working in the area of legislation on trade-related laws and policies such as FDI law, company law, IP laws, competitive policy, etc. Concerning IP laws, the Industrial Design Law and Trademark law have already been approved by the Union Parliament and were signed by the President in January 2019. The remaining two IP laws, on patent and copyright, will also come out soon.
133. In such a situation, it is also extremely grateful to the developed country Members for assisting technical assistance and technology transfer according to the Article 66.2, both of which are very much beneficial for Myanmar people. Technical assistance and capacity building are essential for Myanmar to be able to overcome the big challenges it faces, especially regarding trade and technological development.
134. Article 66.2 of the TRIP Agreement is very supportive for the development of LDCs like Myanmar. Encouraging technology transfer in one country will provide technology promotion there. This will, in turn, create an environment for innovation, and will benefit not only the host country, but also the development partner. Therefore, we should consider this Article to be applied continuously for mutual interest. In Myanmar, we have already setup our Sustainable Developing Goals, Economic Policy and Development Assistance Policy, etc. for carrying out country development. In this connection, we would like to refer our Myanmar Development Assistance Policy, 2018 in building an effective cooperation between us.
135. In conclusion, we would like to inform you that we are ready to constructively engage and to closely work together with the Members of WTO to enabling ourselves to build a sound and viable technological base in order to meaningfully improve Article 66.2 implementation.