WIPO DIRECTOR GENERAL MEETS WITH HEAD OF RUSSIA'S ROSPATENT

The Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Dr. Kamil Idris, met on Thursday, February 27, 2003, with Mr. Alexander Korchagin, Director General of the Russian agency responsible for intellectual property, ROSPATENT, to discuss further development of the intellectual property system in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. The meeting also took stock of bilateral cooperation between WIPO and ROSPATENT.

Dr. Idris welcomed the recent adoption by Russia's Parliament of a number of intellectual property laws, prepared in collaboration with WIPO, which bring Russia's national intellectual property system in line with international standards. The Director General said that this is proof of Russia's commitment to modernizing its national intellectual property system. They agreed on the importance of intellectual property as a powerful tool in promoting development in today's knowledge-based economies.

Mr. Korchagin, accompanied by the Deputy Director of Federal Institute of Industrial Property, ROSPATENT, Mr. Valery Djermakian, thanked the Director General for WIPO's continued assistance. He said the unanimous adoption of these laws by the Parliament demonstrated an increasing awareness of the importance of intellectual property in promoting economic growth in Russia. Dr. Idris applauded this development which he said marked a positive move towards modernizing the intellectual property system in Russia.

Collaboration between Russia and WIPO is in the context of an agreement for cooperation signed in 2000.

The Russian Federation is party to 14 WIPO-administered international treaties and has been a member state of WIPO since April 1970.

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