Statement by India under Agenda Item 7 (Taking stock of progress and making a recommendation to the General Assembly) at the 40th Session of the Inter-Governmental Committee (IGC) on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (17th to 21st June 2019) delivered by Mr. Animesh Choudhury, First Secretary on 20th June 2019 in WIPO HQ, Geneva.
Thank You Chair,
1.At the outset, India would like to place on record its sincere appreciation for your efforts in preparing your text on Genetic Resources.
2. India supports the inclusion of the Chair’s text as a working document for future sessions of this Committee. However, our understanding is that the Chair’s text will complement the other working documents for our future discussions on Genetic Resources and will not be the sole basis of our future discussions on Genetic Resources.
3. On the future mandate of this Committee, we believe the Committee needs a strong and innovative mandate. Primary focus of this Committee should be on text-based negotiations. There is a need to bridge gaps on core issues in all the three texts namely on GR, TK and TCE. Recognizing the complexity of the issues and the divergence of positions, a strong political will is required to arrive at a common landing ground.
Mr. Chair,
4. There has been considerable progress in the discussions in the IGC in the last two years. Hence, the mandate should be strong enough to push forward the progress in the next biennium.
Mr. Chair,
5. India stands committed to participating constructively in all future sessions of the IGC.
