WIPO Director General Meets with President of Belarus
Geneva, December 11, 2003
Press Releases PR/2003/368
The strategic importance of intellectual property as a tool for economic, social and cultural development was the focus of discussions between the Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Dr. Kamil Idris, and the President of Belarus, H.E. Mr. Alexander Lukashenko, at a meeting at WIPO's Geneva headquarters on December 11, 2003.
The meeting is part of on-going high-level contacts between WIPO and the government of Belarus. Last June, the Director General of WIPO held a series of meetings with top Belarus officials in Minsk, including President Lukashenko. WIPO has welcomed Belarus' efforts to modernize its legislative intellectual property framework and other initiatives to ensure that the intellectual property system is more effectively used to leverage the vast human capital of the nation to promote economic growth and development.
The Director General and the President took stock of existing cooperation activities between WIPO and Belarus, in particular in the context of a memorandum of understanding signed between the Organization and Belarus earlier this year. Dr. Idris and President Lukashenko agreed on the strategic importance of intellectual property in the future economic, social and cultural development of Belarus and pledged to continue joint activities to further this vision.
WIPO's cooperation with Belarus is based on a program that aims to strengthen intellectual property protection in the country. It includes a range of activities and training programs to modernize intellectual property legislation, upgrade enforcement mechanisms, and strengthen the role of intellectual property in the scientific, technological and economic activities undertaken in Belarus.
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