By Spain is contributing EUR 2 million (about CHF 1.9 million) to the WTO Fisheries Funding Mechanism to assist developing members and least-developed country members in implementing the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies. Secretary of State for Trade Xiana Méndez presented the contribution to WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on 13 November.
This annual colloquium is designed to update and develop the capacity of IP experts to support their countries’ independent research, policy analysis and teaching in the field of IP law. The 2023 edition was launched by WTO Deputy Director-General Xiangchen Zhang, in the presence of Martha Chikowore, Acting Head of Academic Institutions and Executive Program of the WIPO Academy, and Antony Taubman, Director of the Intellectual Property, Government Procurement and Competition Division at the WTO.
“Over the next two weeks, experts from WIPO, the WTO, academia and industries, together with all participants, will share their knowledge and expertise, which will bring all the participants up to date with the key issues and challenges confronting IP law and policy today,” DDG Zhang told colloquium attendees at the opening. “More importantly, they will enable you to appreciate these issues from different perspectives and to have a comprehensive understanding of the complex issues, which eventually will enrich national decision-making and problem-solving.”
DDG Zhang also commended the wide range of IP-related legal and policy issues covered by the colloquium programme, including IP and public health, IP and technology transfer, and IP and new technologies. “These issues have direct bearing on the global challenges we face, especially given the vital knowledge component of sustainable development,” he said.
The event also provides for experience sharing between participants and the WTO and WIPO secretariats. In addition, participants will engage with leading international research colleagues to explore practical strategies for improving research methodologies in the light of emerging international best practice and for contributing effectively to policy-making processes.
Launched in 2003, the WTO-WIPO colloquium for IP teachers is also an opportunity to establish and strengthen contacts between the WTO, WIPO and IP experts, with a view to continuing dialogue and cooperation in teaching and research in the field of intellectual property. Over the past 20 years, the colloquium has provided capacity building for more than 400 IP experts from across the world.