Permanent Mission of India Geneva
Opening Statement by India on behalf of the Asia Pacific Group at the 16th session of Committee on Development & Intellectual Property, 9 November 2015.
APG Opening Statement for CDIP/16
9 November 2015
Mr. Chair,
India has the honour to deliver this statement on behalf of the Asia and the Pacific Group. At the onset let me put on record the group’s appreciation to the secretariat for the preparation of the documents. We hope under your able guidance this session can make progress on issues of critical importance.
Mr. Chair,
My group is satisfied that CDIP has managed to reach a consensus on the Terms of Reference for the Independent Review of the Implementation of the Development Agenda Recommendations. As a next step, Asia and the Pacific Group expects that the independent review will make a comprehensive assessment of the relevance, effectiveness, impact, sustainability and efficiency of WIPO’s work, including that of the Secretariat and the work of WIPO to implement the Development Agenda Recommendations.
These Terms of Reference were agreed upon after a long drawn negotiated process. The review team should take into consideration the comments made by member states on the inception report, particularly to ensure that the review follows closely the Terms of Reference in letter and in spirit.
Mr. Chair,
WIPO has aligned its goals and work to the Millennium Development Goals, with regular reporting to member states, this welcome precedence could be continued with the adoption of new Sustainable Development Goals. Our group welcomes CDIP to begindiscussions on how WIPO could contribute to the SDGs.
Mr. Chair
Asia & the Pacific Group would urge all to work towards speedy resolution of the GA Decision on CDIP related matters, including the Coordination Mechanism, which is essential, especially with respect to the Program and Budget Committee (PBC) and the Committee on WIPO Standards (CWS). The impetus should be used to build and achieve progress on critical issues, which are still outstanding.We hope to see this matter gets resolved and pave the way for a smooth functioning of other WIPO committees.
Mr. Chair
Technical Assistance is a very important area for all countries. In order to be effective, the delivery of technical assistance needs to be efficient and coherent. We need to devise an institutional mechanism to avoid duplication so that there is optimal channelization of resources.
My group is hopeful that discussion on the External Review of WIPO Technical Assistance in the area of Cooperation for Development would bring uniformity, better organization and clarity to existing processes and practices.
Mr. Chair,
We need to be aware that the implementation of the Development Agenda does not come to a halt when specific projects are completed. It is important to evaluate the gains achieved through projects and more importantly to identify areas where complementary and supplementary work is needed to continue work on the recommendations addressed. The group would like the secretariat to present a compilation of this data and also propose potential new activities for consideration of member states.
Mr. Chair,
The Group members would make interventions during the discussions on specific agenda item. We look forward to contributing to the discussions in the Committee and hope for a productive session.
I thank you once again for this opportunity.
