| Description: |
You have approved the above activity (memorandum attached), which was scheduled to take place from November 4 to 6, 2014, in Harare.
ARIPO has agreed to host the Meeting at their premises, however, in view of a clash of Meetings taking place around the same period, ARIPO’s Director General,
Mr. Fernando Dos Santos, has asked, by his email (attached) of October 22, 2014 to reschedule the Meeting.
After further consultations between WIPO, ARIPO, invited speakers and the Government of Zimbabwe, it has now been agreed to hold it during the 2nd week of December.
It is therefore proposed to reschedule the Meeting to December 9 to 11, 2014.
The Government of Zimbabwe is engaged in the process of developing an intellectual property (IP) policy as a follow-up to a decision of the Administrative Council Session of the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) held in Maseru, the Kingdom of Lesotho, and recommendations of the WIPO Development Agenda.
Achievements reached so far range from the setting up of a Committee steered by Mrs. Mabel Msika, Director of Policy and Legal Research, Ministry of Justice, to develop the IP policy and strategy in 2012. Preliminary meetings spearheaded by the Committee with the assistance of ARIPO were held in 2012; however after further considerations, the assistance and guidance of WIPO was sought which led to: (a) an IP audit that was carried out by WIPO and WIPO commissioned Consultants in 2012; (b) a draft IP audit report and recommendations (copies attached for ease of reference) to inform the drafting of the IP policy and strategy; and (c) consultations with a wide array of stakeholders in the process.
The validation could not take place as foreseen in 2013 due to a number of factors. The Government is now in the process of introducing reforms to its national IP system, which will include accession to the Madrid Protocol, operationalization of the Geographical Indications Act, and creatio |