[A2k] FromGeneva: Pre-Development Agenda Meeting In Singapore

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

http://fromgeneva.blogspot.com/2007/04/pre-development-agenda-meeting-
in.html

Pre-Development Agenda Meeting In Singapore

FromGeneva
Thiru Balasubramaniam
16 April 2007

The Government of Singapore will host a pre-Development Agenda meeting
from 30 May to 1 June 2007. The meeting is being convened by the
Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) with invitations being
signed by Ms. Liew Woon Yin, Director-General (IPOS).

According to the invitation which was sent out on 29 March 2007, the
Singaporean Government is encouraged by positive outcomes achieved in
the 3rd Session of the Provisional Committee On Proposals Related to a
WIPO Development Agenda (PCDA). In order to "ensure that the PCDA
succeeds in its endeavor, to submit a report to the General Assembly,
later this year", Singapore considers it imperative that the 71
proposals on the table (including establishing a Treaty on Access to
Knowledge and fostering discussion on a Medical R&D Treaty), be
"examined intensively and a proper understanding developed" prior to
the 4th Session of the PCDA which takes places from 11-15 June 2007 in
Geneva, Switzerland. This initiative appears similar in spirit to the
New Delhi pre-Development Agenda of February 2007 where key
stakeholders were invited to frame a common consensus. It remains to be
seen how this informal meeting of selected governments will tackle the
thornier elements of Annex B of 71 proposals related to a Development
Agenda.

The importance attached to achieving a favorable result at the PCDA
meeting in June is evidenced by Singapore's remark in the invitation
letter that the

     process to establish a WIPO Development Agenda has attracted
considerable attention the world over and has raised the expectation of
the world IP community, particularly developing countries.



As the Singapore informal is intended to be representative, invitations
have been extended to developing and industrialized countries and
transition economies. In order to achieve geographic balance, it is
understood that the regional coordinator will be requested to nominate
representatives (either at the capital level or the Geneva level) to
attend the meeting. It appears that WIPO will fund the travel monies
for officials from developing countries and transition countries. Since
this meeting "informal", it is unlikely that there will be any
representation from NGOs although this is not explicilty mentioned in
the invitation letter. As the future success of the Development Agenda
is at stake at the June PCDA meeting, the bar is set high for the
Singapore informal to pave the way for WIPO to truly integrate the
development dimension.

---------------------------------
Thiru Balasubramaniam
Geneva Representative
Knowledge Ecology International (KEI)
voice +41.22.791.6727
fax +41.22.723.2988
mobile +41 76 508 0997
thiru@keionline.org