H.E. Ambassador Dr. Lansana GBERIE

World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)

10 TECHNICAL COOPERATION AND CAPACITY-BUILDING

107.   The World Intellectual Property Organization continues to support Members to leverage intellectual property as an enabler of the creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship needed to address global challenges. WIPO remains committed to working now and in the future to enable an effective global response to the COVID-19 pandemic and to facilitate sustainable post COVID-19 recovery efforts. 108.   Technical co-operation and capacity-building are key components of the WIPO COVID-19 response package, approved in October 2021, and designed to leverage WIPO's strengths in support of the global community's response to COVID-19. The WIPO COVID-19 response package includes a commitment for WIPO to strengthen its cooperation with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) as part of the trilateral cooperation to address the individual needs of Members in this regard. 109.   Since 2009, the Trilateral Cooperation has enabled the WHO, WIPO and the WTO to step up practical coordination on issues relating to public health, intellectual property and trade. This trilateral cooperation is intended to enhance the empirical and factual information basis for policy makers in order to support them in addressing public health in relation to intellectual property and trade. On 15 June 2021, the Directors General of WHO, WIPO and WTO met to map out further collaboration to assist Members' responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Directors General were conscious of the pressing global challenges at the intersection of public health, intellectual property and trade and they agreed on a number of actions in support of the members of the three organizations. 110.   As part of their actions, the Directors General agreed to establish the WHO-WIPO-WTO COVID- 19 Technical Assistance Platform. The new joint Platform for tripartite technical assistance was launched in April 2022. The Platform provides a one-stop shop for members of the three organizations and for WTO accession candidates. It offers the full range of expertise on access, intellectual property and trade matters provided by WHO, WIPO and WTO in a coordinated and systematic manner. 111.   The Trilateral Technical Assistance Platform is an additional pathway to requesting technical assistance within the framework of the trilateral cooperation. The Platform offers easy-to-find and use information about the technical assistance that can be obtained individually and together from WHO, WIPO and WTO with regards to COVID-19 response. In order to improve outreach, the three organizations have agreed to establish the new platform with a new trilateral domain: . The platform focuses on COVID-19 related technical assistance and maps out related information in WHO, WIPO and WTO which is accessible through the platform. Such information includes direct links to the Trilateral Study Promoting Access to Medical Technologies and Innovation as well as the updated COVID-19 extract on an integrated health, trade and IP approach to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Both publications are available in the six United Nations languages through the platform. 112.   In addition, the platform provides direct links to pertinent information about the full range of options for technical assistance provided for by WHO, WIPO and WTO. A contact form can be used to send any queries regarding how to request trilateral technical assistance – this is available online at the gateway. The contact form encourages the user to submit structured and detailed information and guides the user as to which information is useful for the respective secretariats to expedite the inquiries. 113.   Translations of the Trilateral Technical Assistance Platform into Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish are currently in the final stage of preparation and will be upload shortly. At this stage, the Trilateral Technical Assistance Platform focuses on COVID-19 related technical assistance. We see potential for this platform to develop further into a comprehensive trilateral information resource that can support the global policy discussion in the fields of health, intellectual property and trade in a holistic manner in order to make the potential of the trilateral cooperation work for all members of WHO, WIPO, WTO and WTO accession candidates. 114.   WIPO reaffirms its commitment to combining the three organizations' services together to offer Members comprehensive support in addressing the pandemic and beyond. We invite you to make active use of the platform and to share with us any feedback about this new feature of the trilateral cooperation.

The Council took note of the statements and agreed to revert to the item at its next meeting.

43. The Chair recalled that the Council had regularly conducted annual reviews of technical cooperation and capacity-building activities at its end-of-year meeting and that these reviews were based on reports submitted by developed country Members, international organizations, and the WTO Secretariat.
44. The representative of the Secretariat stated that this review was usually conducted at the Council's last meeting of the year. Developed country Members were invited to submit information on their activities pursuant to Article 67 of the TRIPS Agreement. Other Members who also engaged in technical cooperation were encouraged to share information if they so wish. Intergovernmental organizations with observer status in the TRIPS Council, as well as the WTO Secretariat, were also invited to report on their relevant activities. The requested written information should be made available four weeks prior to the next meeting, in order to allow timely circulation. In view of the dates of the next TRIPS Council meeting scheduled for 12-13 October 2022, he suggested that written information be submitted by 12 September 2022 by using the e-TRIPS notification submission system (NSS).
45. As explained at previous occasions, submitting the information through the e-TRIPS NSS meant that the full search functionality of the e-TRIPS gateway would be available and the information provided could be searched and interrogated according to providing Member, beneficiary, timeline or topic. If the information was submitted outside the e-TRIPS submission system, the information was then available in e-TRIPS but could not be searched in the same manner, hence the encouragement to use the e-TRIPS submission system.
46. The Chair suggested to proceed in line with this practice and conduct the next such review at the October meeting which was agreed by the Council.
47. The Chair noted that the documentation provided on this topic had been usually quite extensive, and that in order to ensure a streamlined and systematic approach to the management of this information, the use of the e-TRIPS Submissions System was advised for the convenient preparation of such submissions both in capital and at the Geneva missions. The Secretariat was available to provide support and background to delegations for the use of this system and could be contacted through the usual email .
48. The Chair recalled that at the last TRIPS Council meetings in October 2021 and last March, it was suggested that the Secretariat consider organizing a workshop on technical cooperation and capacity building in the same manner as it had organized the workshop on incentives for technology transfer under Article 66.2 in recent years. He said that in response to this request, the Secretariat was exploring the possibility of such a workshop to be held in the margins of a TRIPS Council meeting next year and that more information would be provided as plans for such a workshop concretize.
49. The Chair drew attention to a joint trilateral website that had been set up with the WTO's sister organizations. This WHO-WIPO-WTO COVID-19 Technical Assistance Platform aimed to help Members and WTO accession candidates address their capacity-building needs to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. It offered a one-stop shop for Members to facilitate and provide timely and tailored technical assistance, upon request, in making full use of all available options to access vaccines, medicines and technologies, including through coordination and exchange between Members facing similar challenges. Information on this platform could be found on the websites of the three organizations and that there was also some printed material at the back of the room.
50. The representatives of Bangladesh; Republic of Moldova and World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) took the floor.
51. The Council took note of the statements and agreed to revert to the item at its next meeting.

IP/C/M/105, IP/C/M/105/Add.1, IP/C/M/105/Corr.1