25. The representative of Japan informed the Council of an Asian Regional Forum, organized under the WIPO trust fund and held in Tokyo in September 1997, on the theme "Intellectual Property in the 21st Century". Representatives from intellectual property offices of 21 Asian countries had participated in the Forum and had adopted a joint statement on the strengthening of their intellectual property systems and the promotion of cooperation in the region. Moreover, the Japanese Patent Office had organized a seven week long computer training course, that had started in September 1997, which related to intellectual property systems and was aimed at contributing to the modernization of intellectual property administrations. Four trainees from Thailand, one from the Philippines and one from Indonesia had participated in this training programme.
