WIPO and SECIB Discuss Future Collaboration
Geneva, September 10, 2001
Press Releases PR/2001/282
The Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Dr. Kamil Idris, and the Secretary General of the Secretariat for Ibero-American Cooperation (SECIB), Ambassador Jorge Alberto Lozoya, discussed at a meeting in Geneva on Monday future collaboration between their respective organizations as a follow-up to an agreement signed last November.
The agreement provides a framework for future cooperation between WIPO and SECIB, which groups 21 countries, to enhance policy dialogue and other links. It makes provisions for collaboration between the two inter-governmental organizations in the exchange of information and in the field of technical cooperation. It was the first collaboration agreement signed by the Secretary for Cooperation of SECIB and an inter-governmental organization, thus reflecting the importance attached by SEBIC countries to promoting understanding and awareness of intellectual property issues.
Dr. Idris and Ambassador Lozoya reaffirmed the importance of integrating the intellectual property system and policies into national strategic planning to promote economic development and wealth creation. They agreed on the need to deliver a clear message about the importance and relevance of intellectual property to policy-makers as well as the general public.
The meeting between Dr. Idris and Ambassador Lozoya is part of a consultation process mandated to SECIB by the X Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government, held in Panama in November 2000, to organize a forum of reflection on intellectual property in the new digital environment taking into account the treaties and the work of WIPO.
SECIB countries have expressed particular interest in WIPO's programs relating to global intellectual property issues, including the intellectual property aspects of traditional knowledge, folklore and genetic resources. Also, SECIB has shown interest in WIPO's initiative to assist small and medium enterprises in taking better advantage of the intellectual property system for economic development and wealth creation.
SECIB, created in 1999 during the IX Ibero-American Summit in Havana, was established to strengthen cooperation between its member countries, namely, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Spain, Uruguay and Venezuela. In the Autumn 2000 session of the WIPO Assembly, member states approved a request by SECIB for observer status at WIPO.
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