Ambassador Ravinatha Aryasinha, Sri Lanka's Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva and Chairman of the Personal Representatives of the Group of Fifteen (G-15), has urged WIPO to take measures to promote South-South Cooperation in the field of Intellectual Property for Development. He said that “WIPO should act as a catalyst to increase triangular cooperation between developing countries and LDC’s, through initiatives to identify best practices in the use of intellectual property for, inter alia, technology transfer, public health, food security, and other global challenges in which intellectual property has an important role to play".

Ambassador Aryasinha made these observations when he delivered a joint statement at the Second Annual Conference on South-South Cooperation on Intellectual Property and Development, which followed the 12th Session of Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP) at WIPO in Geneva on 22 November 2013, on behalf of G-15, a Summit Level Group of Developing Countries comprising 17 member States - Algeria, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Jamaica, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.

The Foreign Ministers of G-15 in their 36th Annual Meeting in New York on 27 September 2103 decided to include “Intellectual Property and Development” as one of the four new thematic areas of focus for the Group in the coming years. Other three thematic areas identified include: Information Communication Technology; Renewable Energy; and Migration and Development. This was G-15’s first-ever Joint Statement at WIPO.

Full text of the statement is attached herewith.

G-15 JOINT STATEMENT
Second WIPO Annual Conference on South-South Cooperation on Intellectual Property and Development
Geneva, November 22, 2013

Mr President,

I have the honour and privilege to deliver this statement on behalf of the Group of Fifteen (G-15), a Summit Level Group of Developing Countries, comprising 17 member states. G-15 was established in 1989 with the aim to, inter alia, tap the enormous potential of South-South Cooperation and North-South dialogue with a view to foster and promote sustainable development with shared common goals and leveraged capacities.

The Group would like to congratulate you for presiding over this important Conference on South-South Cooperation on Intellectual Property and Development and also for so successfully chairing the 12th Session of Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP). The Group also wishes to extend its appreciation to the Director General and the WIPO Secretariat on the preparation for this event.

Mr President,
The Members of G-15 have a particular interest in understanding the effects of the intellectual property development in developing countries, both on the specific measures of economic performance and on the process of economic development as a whole. That is why we welcome the adoption of the Development Agenda by the WIPO General Assembly in 2007, which was a milestone in the international perspective on intellectual property. It represented a shift from viewing IP as an end in itself to seeing it as a means to serve the larger public goals of social, economic and cultural development. The Group fully shares this perspective.

While acknowledging the challenges to the meaningful implementation of the recommendations of the Development Agenda, the Group strongly supports the mainstreaming of the development dimension into all areas of WIPO’s work, in view of the opportunity it presents not only to all developing countries but also to those with the potential to fully benefit from the international IP system.

The inception of the Development Agenda, the rebalancing of the global perspective on IP, and the mainstreaming and implementation of the recommendations present a considerable challenge. The Group is of the view that a development approach, an oversight by Member States, a sustained cultural change within the Secretariat as well as a continuous commitment and engagement with civil society organizations, are required for implementation to be successful.

The Group notes that six years after the adoption of the Development Agenda, WIPO has made significant and encouraging steps towards the integration of a development dimension in its work. Nevertheless, the Group is of the view that the complex process of implementing the recommendations of the Development Agenda needs to be further advanced. There is still much to be done in order to raise awareness among the international community about the importance of intellectual property as a development tool.

In this regard, the Group believes that this international conference on IP and Development, as agreed upon during the last session of CDIP, will be an important forum for discussing the impact of and obstacles to the effective implementation of the Development Agenda. It is also important that WIPO provides a forum in CDIP for discussing development aspects presented in the seminar series “The Economics of Intellectual Property” in order to provide information to decision making by member states. These discussions should lead to a comprehensive analysis on how the development dimension should be seen in the work of WIPO.

Mr President,
The Group welcomes the holding of this second WIPO Conference on South-South Cooperation in the field of Intellectual Property for Development. We welcome also the holding of interregional Conferences on South-South cooperation and intellectual property in two G-15 countries namely, Brazil and Egypt.

South-South Cooperation is the foundation under which the Group of Fifteen was created. We made it a tool for developing important and strategic partnerships to promote sustainable growth and contribute to the social development of our countries.

The Group believes that South- South cooperation can play an important role in achieving the objectives outlined in the relevant recommendations of WIPO’s Development Agenda. Indeed, South-South cooperation is particularly useful to achieving pro-development IP systems in developing countries and LDCs given the particular circumstances and challenges developing countries and LDCs face. It is also a vehicle to share information and promote understanding of the practical initiatives that developing countries and LDCs can and have utilized to link IP as a tool to broaden public policies and development goals.

G-15 members urge WIPO to take measures to promote South-South cooperation in the field of intellectual property. WIPO should also act as a catalyst to increase triangular cooperation between developing countries and LDCs, through initiatives to identify best practices in the use of intellectual property for, inter alia, technology transfer, public health, food security and other global challenges in which intellectual property has an important role to play.

Finally, Mr. President, our Group wishes the Conference every success in its work. I thank you.