Ambassador Ravinatha Aryasinha, Sri Lanka's Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva and Chairman of the Personal Representatives of the Group of Fifteen (G-15), has urged WIPO to play a greater role in promoting the understanding and adoption of Intellectual Property policies and laws in member countries, respecting their different levels of development. He said that “WIPO’S activities should be supportive of the development goals agreed with the UN System” and “Accordingly, WIPO should be required to play a proactive role to support national scientific and technological capability; foster access to knowledge and explore all possible mechanisms for innovation to effectively promote development".
Ambassador Aryasinha made these observations when he delivered a joint statement at the 13th Session of Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP) at WIPO in Geneva on 19 May, 2014 on behalf of G-15, a Summit Level Group of Developing Countries comprising 17 member States - Algeria, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Jamaica, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.
“Intellectual Property and Development” was identified as one of the four new thematic areas of focus for the Group in the coming years at the 36th Annual Meeting of Group’s Foreign Ministers in New York on 27 September 2103. Other three thematic areas identified are: Information Communication Technology; Renewable Energy; and Migration and Development. This was G-15’s second Joint Statement at WIPO following the one delivered at the 2nd Annual Conference on South-South Cooperation on IP and Development last year on 22 November 2013.
Read the full text of the Statement
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