425. Let me start by thanking the delegation of South Africa for this very informative paper while we are still considering the proposal at capital, we would like to state our preliminary observations of some similarities of some of the elements of the paper with our national approach in operationalizing technology transfer under the TRIPS Agreement.
426. We are of the view that the discussions around the 1998 work programme on e-commerce should be continued. We also agree with Paragraph 4 of the proposal which implies that intellectual property can impact on development, therefore it is pertinent to foster discussions on this regard at the TRIPS Council. The need for developing countries' and LDCs' access to new technology cannot be overemphasized.
427. Furthermore, we agree, as was provided under Article 7 of the TRIPS Agreement, that the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights should contribute to the promotion of technological innovation and to the transfer and dissemination of technology in other to ensure the balance of rights.