WIPO and Uruguay Strengthen Cooperation
Geneva, October 16, 2006
Press Releases PR/2006/465
The Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Dr. Kamil Idris, has pledged the Organization's continuing support to Uruguay in further reinforcing its intellectual property system. In talks with Uruguay's Vice President Mr. Rodolfo Nin Novoa and a delegation of the Uruguayan Parliament in Geneva on October 16, 2006, Dr. Idris welcomed Uruguay's efforts to modernize its intellectual property framework and other initiatives to ensure that the vast human capital of the nation is best exploited for economic growth and development. In this context, a memorandum of understanding was signed to build on WIPO's existing cooperation with Uruguay.
The talks focused on the strategic importance of intellectual property in the future economic, social and cultural development of Uruguay. Dr. Idris welcomed the commitment by the Government of Uruguay to strengthening its intellectual property system and underlined its pivotal importance to Uruguay's drive to convert its innovative potential into tangible economic assets to promote economic development. He also stressed the important role of cultural industries in the overall economic performance of the country, noting it amounted to approximately 6.5% of the annual gross domestic product (GDP) and employed some 60,000 people representing 4.9% of the workforce.
The Vice President of Uruguay, who is also the President of the Senate, informed the Director General that the Uruguayan Parliament had approved last week the accession of Uruguay to the WIPO Copyright Treaty. The Director General welcomed this development and stressed the importance of the Treaty for the protection of content in the digital environment. Dr. Idris also said that in today's knowledge-based economic environment, the intellectual property system is a crucial policy tool that enables a country to tap into its creative potential and to foster its economic and technological development. The Director General outlined a number of WIPO initiatives that could be of particular interest to Uruguay, including efforts to help small and medium sized enterprises (SME's) better exploit the intellectual property system and negotiations on intellectual property aspects of traditional knowledge and folklore.
WIPO's cooperation activities with Uruguay currently include a range of activities and training programs to modernize the intellectual property administrative and legal frameworks, and strengthen the role of intellectual property in the scientific, technological and economic fields. As a result of the agreement signed in Geneva, WIPO's efforts will focus on boosting innovation through strategic use of intellectual property and strengthening links between innovation centers and the manufacturing sector. Activities will also focus on promoting the use of intellectual property as a tool for business development in cultural industries, with particular emphasis on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
The Vice President was accompanied by their Excellencies, Ambassador Guillermo Valles, Permanent Representative, Mission of Uruguay, Geneva and Ambassador Ricardo Gonzalez Arenas, Deputy Permanent Representative. Mr. Nin Novoa was also accompanied by H.E. Dr. Julio Cardozo, President of the House of Representatives, Senator Jorge Larrañaga, Senator Monica Xavier, Senator Luis Alberto Heber and National Representative Washington Abdala.
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