PERMANENT MISSION OF INDIA TO THE UNITED NATIONS
GENEVA

Statement by India at the 15th session of the WIPO Inter-Governmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore on 7 December 2009, Geneva

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 Mr. Chairman,

At the outset, my delegation joins others in congratulating you warmly on your election as Chair of the 15th session of the IGC.  We are fully confident that under your able leadership and guidance, this crucial meeting will succeed in laying down a clear roadmap and a focused work programme to ensure the realization of the historic new mandate for the IGC given by the WIPO General Assembly. On our part, Mr. Chairman, we assure you of our cooperation and support in this important endeavour.

Mr. Chairman,

The mandate given by the General Assembly requests this Committee “to submit to the 2011 General Assembly, the text (or texts) of an international legal instrument (or instruments) which will ensure the effective protection of GRs, TK and TCEs”, based on which, a decision would be taken by the 2011 General Assembly on convening a Diplomatic Conference. This indeed, is an unprecedented assignment and a momentous responsibility for all of us, which can only be realized collectively in a spirit of positive and constructive engagement. In this same spirit, India has been engaged in consultations with other Like-Minded countries in exploring an optimal way forward, and fully subscribes to the statement delivered by the distinguished delegate of Indonesia, on behalf of the Like-Minded countries. 

Believing that “a good beginning is already half a journey traversed”, we urge an early commencement of text-based negotiations on the basis of WIPO documents WIPO/GRTKF/IC/9/4, WIPO/GRTKF/IC/9/5 and WIPO/GRTKF/IC/11/8(a), as mandated by the General Assembly.  In our view, this would lay the right foundation and provide the appropriate direction for an efficient and productive process that eventually leads to the mandated outcome, in terms of an international legal instrument for the effective protection of GRTKF, by September 2011.  We are therefore happy that this meeting will begin with a consideration of the three documents under agenda items 7, 8 and 9 and look forward to a commencement of focused and productive deliberations on these texts.  We also note that while document 9/4 on TCE’s and 9/5 on TK are already in mature formats that provide a sound basis for text-based negotiations, document 11/8 on GR containing only a list of options, needs further work.  While doing so, we need to be conscious that the work undertaken in the IGC on GR complements and supports the processes underway in this area under the framework of the UN Convention on Biodiversity and the WTO TRIPS Council, without in any manner, undermining them.

Mr. Chairman,

In our view, the arrangements for the first Inter-sessional Working Group under agenda item 10, similarly need to be evolved jointly, in a manner that contributes meaningfully to accelerating the work of the IGC, in order to facilitate a convergence towards a draft legal instrument that would be ready by September 2011 for consideration in a Diplomatic Conference.  Since inter-sessional work is only a vehicle to move forward towards this shared, eventual objective as reflected in the renewed IGC  mandate, we are confident that this meeting will provide a concrete mandate and a well-defined work programme to the first inter-sessional meeting and agree on modalities and working procedures that enable it to deliver effectively on the mandated tasks.
In order to achieve these important outcomes, my delegation stands ready to engage in constructive and purposeful deliberations in this Committee, in the course of the week.

Thank you Mr. Chairman

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