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

Ambassador Karen Tan (Singapore)
J TECHNICAL COOPERATION AND CAPACITY BUILDING
117. The representative of Angola believed that the seminars or workshops mentioned by previous speakers were important, because they served to enhance the capacity and the knowledge of officers in LDCs. Once a needs assessment was established, it was important to adopt measures and mechanisms to make implementation effective. Uganda and Sierra Leone had already prepared their needs assessment and, following the implementation of this assessment, there was a kind of vacuum. Therefore, it was important for LDCs' partners not simply to focus on workshops and seminars. Although they were good, LDCs needed specific measures. One such measure was digitization of IP offices. In this regard, it was important to identify the needs and to find means to meet them. That would not only help national offices to protect IPRs, but also to register patents. Such a measure was not only beneficial at the national level, but also to other countries who wished to protect their IPRs abroad. Therefore, it was important for the TRIPS Council to start thinking about measures that went above and beyond needs assessment.
IP/C/M/62