UAE participates in WIPO 57th series of meetings in Switzerland

The UAE participated in the fifty-seventh series of meetings of the assemblies of the member states of the World Intellectual Property Organisation, WIPO, which is taking place in the Swiss city of Geneva, and will continue until 11th November.

These include the meetings of the General Assembly of the organisation, the co-ordination committee, and the assemblies and unions of the 191 member countries.

The delegation is headed by Mohammed Ahmed bin Abdul Aziz Al Shehhi, Under-Secretary for Economic Affairs in the Ministry of Economy, with Abdul Salam Al Ali, Director of the UAE Office at the World Trade Organisation, Khalfan Ahmed Al Suwaidi, Director of the Industrial Property Department, and Fatima Khalaf Al Hosani, Director of the Trademarks Department in the ministry.

Al Shehhi praised the role of the organisation in consolidating intellectual property rights and encouraging creativity, innovation and development internationally, while complimenting the efforts of Francis Gurry, Director-General of WIPO, in developing the organisation’s work and supporting member states.

He thanked the Ambassador of Latvia for his fruitful efforts while presiding during the previous series, especially in launching the external offices of WIPO in Algeria and Nigeria, and congratulated the Ambassador of Vietnam for his nomination to preside for the upcoming two years.

Al Shehhi conveyed the support of the UAE to the statement given by Indonesia’s representative on behalf of the Asian group, calling on all member states to discuss the objective issues on the work schedule with flexibility and constructive dialogue, and reach effective solutions.

Al Shehhi demonstrated the developments of the intellectual property sector in the UAE, highlighting the country’s great achievement in developing its intellectual property system to build a diverse and competitive economy based on knowledge and innovation.

He clarified that the country, in order to become one of the centres of innovation in the world, had adopted policies and legislation that would support intellectual property rights. For this, it had entered into international agreements and joined international partnerships to strengthen co-operation and gain the latest knowledge and technologies in the field.

He drew attention to the efforts being made by the UAE in playing a positive role in spreading the intellectual property culture and consolidate its practices, regionally and internationally, and to strengthen efforts to host a WIPO representative external office in Abu Dhabi, which it had confirmed during its presentation to the organisation last July.