Kazakhstan interested in strengthening cooperation with WIPO
The Permanent Representative of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the World Trade Organization and International Economic Organizations Zhanar Aitzhan held the meeting with Daren Tang, Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), El.kz cites MFA.
The WIPO Director General took the opportunity to congratulate Kazakhstan on successful conclusion of the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference in June 2022. According to Director General, the multilateral agreements reached at the conference under Kazakhstan's chairmanship on key issues of international trade gives optimism about the future of multilateralism, including at the WIPO platform. In this regard, Director General Tang invited Kazakhstan to actively participate in the preparation of the WIPO Diplomatic Conference in 2024 and facilitate the conclusion of the International Legal Instrument on Genetic Resources and Traditional Knowledge.
During the meeting the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Kazakhstan stressed that the priority tasks for Kazakhstan in the field of intellectual property development include development of a national legislation, digitalization of services, provision of professional training and strengthening the international cooperation. Aitzhan also noted that Kazakhstan plans to join The Hague System of Industrial Design Protection in order to protect the interests of domestic rights holders.
The Director General Tang proposed to hold a WIPO Summer School for Central Asia in Kazakhstan in 2023, based on the success of conducting a similar event in 2022. The Permanent Representative stressed that Kazakhstan has the required capacity to host training of young professionals from Central Asia in the field of intellectual property protection and is ready to consider the implementation of this initiative.
The Permanent Representative asked WIPO management to support Kazakhstan in the development of Technology and Innovation Support Centers and consider granting Kazakhstan a free acess to specialized patent information within the project.
The important issue raised by the Permanent Representative during the meeting is WIPO's technical support for the development of geographical indications in Kazakhstan. Geographical indication protection plays a key role for marketing and exports of agricultural products and will enable domestic producers to retain control over the unique qualities of their own products and benefit from their commercialization. In this regard, as a result of the meeting, the parties agreed on technical support from WIPO experts to the Association of Almaty Aport Producers in the protection of their product as a geographical indication.
Furthermore Permanent Representative Aitzhan expressed Kazakhstan's interest in increasing economic opportunities for women through participation in the global WIPO initiative providing training and skills development for women on intellectual property rights protection.
In conclusion, the Director General of WIPO Daren Tang expressed his full support to all the proposals made by the Permanent Representative Aitzhan and noted that WIPO would provide its support to addressing important issues related to intellectual property rights protection and enforcement in Kazakhstan.
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