Minutes - TRIPS Council - View details of the intervention/statement

Ambassador C. Trevor Clarke (Barbados)
L TECHNICAL COOPERATION AND CAPACITY-BUILDING
165. The Chairman recalled that the Council had agreed, at its meeting in June 2006, to hold its annual review of technical cooperation at the present meeting. In preparation for this annual review, developed country Members had been requested to update information on their technical and financial cooperation activities relevant to the implementation of the TRIPS Agreement. Other Members who had also made available technical cooperation were encouraged to share information on these activities if they so wished. On 29 August 2006, the Secretariat had issued airgram WTO/AIR/2880 reminding Members of this request. Intergovernmental organization observers to the Council as well as the WTO Secretariat had also been invited to provide information. 166. The Council had received information from the following developed country Members: Switzerland; Japan; New Zealand; Norway; Australia; the European Communities and individual member States and agencies (namely Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market); the United States; and Canada (being circulated in documents IP/C/W/476 and addenda). Updated information had been obtained from the following intergovernmental organizations: the OECD, UPOV, UNCTAD, WIPO and WHO (being circulated in document IP/C/W/478 and addenda). In addition, the IMF had informed the Chairman, by means of a letter dated 13 September 2006, that it did not carry out any TRIPS-related technical assistance and, hence, did not have any useful information to provide to the Council. Updated information on the WTO Secretariat's technical cooperation activities in the TRIPS area could be found in document IP/C/W/477.
IP/C/M/52