ASEAN bolsters intellectual property cooperation

HANOI – The 72nd meeting of the ASEAN Working Group on Intellectual Property Cooperation (AWGIPC) and related meetings are being held by the Ministry of Science and Technology’s Intellectual Property Office (IPO) of Việt Nam in the central city of Đà Nẵng on April 22-26.

ASEAN’s action plan on IP during the 2016-25 period and cooperation in the field within the ASEAN member states and its partners such as the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), the European Patent Office (EPO) and the Japan Patent Office (JPO) are high on the agenda.

In his speech at the opening ceremony, IPO Director Lưu Hoàng Long expressed his hope that ASEAN will become a creative region with a competitive edge in the world, adding the AWGIPC has well performed its roles in building, coordinating and carrying out ASEAN’s action plans on IP to concretise the bloc’s set IP targets stated in the ASEAN Economic Community Blueprint.

He added he believes that ASEAN will continue effectively implementing its action plan for 2026-25 and build a post-2025 one.

Welcoming Timor Leste’s participation at the meeting as an observer, he said he hopes the country will actively engage in the AWGIPC and contribute to the development of the region’s IP system and integration.

Meanwhile, AWGIPC Chairman Xaysomphet Norasingh said, inspired by its achievements, the bloc should strive to settle challenges and grasp opportunities, wishing that ASEAN members will cooperate to build IP capacity, thus contributing to the development of the regional IP system.

Other events held on the sidelines of the meeting include the 15th meeting of the IP Committee of the ASEAN – Australia – New Zealand Free Trade Agreement and a ceremony to welcome the World IP Day (April 26).

The AWGIPC was established on the basis of the frame agreement on IP cooperation between ASEAN member states adopted at the 5th ASEAN Summit in Bangkok in 1995. The group has built, implemented and evaluated ASEAN’s IP cooperative activities in various phases.

To date, it has completed 81 per cent of the initiatives and activities within ASEAN’s action plan for 2016-2025, while affirming the bloc’s central role in the cooperation mechanisms with international organisations and partners.