Actas - Consejo de los ADPIC - Ver detalles de la intervención/declaración

Ambassador Alfredo Suescum (Panama)
11 TECHNICAL COOPERATION AND CAPACITY-BUILDING
141. Australia is pleased to present our 2013 updated report on technical cooperation activities for IP capacity building. Australia fulfils its obligations under Article 67 TRIPS through multilateral, regional and bilateral programmes and activities mainly in the Asia-Pacific region, but increasingly in Africa. 142. The programmes and activities are detailed in the report. I will provide a couple of examples from our 2013 report. We are very proud of our inaugural regional patent examination training programme which started in April 2013 under the framework of the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement and aims to enhance patent examination standards. We welcomed participants from Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Kenya and ARIPO. 143. A hallmark of Australia's contribution is the $A2 million Australia-WIPO Funds in Trust, which is specifically designed for IP cooperation and capacity building. Since we last reported this initiative in 2012, I'd like to provide a taste of what has been delivered through the Funds in Trust. We have delivered assistance to: • Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands to undertake IP needs assessments; • Tonga to develop a national IP strategy; • research scientists from Mali, South Africa, Cameroon, Egypt and Ghana to undertake placements with some of the world's top pharmaceutical research laboratories and universities to undertake research on neglected tropical diseases, malaria and tuberculosis; and • Bangladesh and Namibia with fact finding missions to assess the needs of organizations serving visually impaired persons.
The Council took note of the statements made and agreed to revert to the matter at its next meeting.
11.1. The Chairman recalled that the Council had agreed, at its meeting in June 2013, to hold its annual review of technical cooperation at today's meeting. He suggested that, in this context, the Council also discuss any other issues relating to this agenda item. In preparation for this annual review, developed country Members had been once more requested to update information on their technical and financial cooperation activities relevant to the implementation of the TRIPS Agreement in time for this meeting. Other Members who also made available technical cooperation had been encouraged to share information on these activities if they so wished. The Secretariat had issued on 8 August 2013 an airgram (WTO/AIR/4165) reminding Members of this request. In addition, intergovernmental organizations observers to the Council, as well as the WTO Secretariat, had been invited to provide information.

11.2. The Council had received information from the following developed country Members: Japan; New Zealand; Canada; the European Union and individual member States, namely Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain and the United Kingdom; as well as Norway; Switzerland; the United States, and Australia (document IP/C/W/593 and addenda). Updated information had been received from the following intergovernmental organizations: the WCO, OECD, WHO, UNCTAD, FAO; and WIPO (document IP/C/W/591 and addenda).

11.3. Updated information on the WTO Secretariat's own technical cooperation activities in the TRIPS area could be found in document IP/C/W/590 in French and Spanish, and in document IP/C/W/590/Rev.1 in English.

11.4. In addition, the Council had received a communication from Togo identifying its priority needs for technical and financial cooperation (document IP/C/W/597). Togo intended to introduce this document at the Council's first meeting in 2014.

11.5. The representatives of Australia, the WTO Secretariat and the WHO Secretariat took the floor under this agenda item. The statements will be reproduced in an addendum to the present record. The Chairman urged those Members that had not yet provided updated information on their technical cooperation activities to do so. He noted that some of the information had been received only very recently, and that most of it was, so far, only available in its original language. He said that it was his intention to provide Members of the Council with an opportunity at the next meeting to make further comments on the information submitted for this meeting that they might not yet have been able to study.

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

IP/C/M/74, IP/C/M/74/Add.1