TECHNICAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES: INFORMATION FROM
OTHER INTERGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
(UNCTAD)
At its meeting of 14-15
June 2023, the Council for TRIPS agreed to invite intergovernmental
organization observers to the Council to update the information on their
technical and financial cooperation programmes relating to the implementation
of the TRIPS Agreement.
The
present document reproduces the information which has been received from the United
Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) by means of a communication dated 17 September 2023.
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Introduction
1. The UNCTAD Secretariat, in
accordance with its mandate under Bridgetown Covenant (2021) and taking into
account international and regional initiatives, such as those by the World Intellectual
Property Organization (WIPO), World Health Organization (WHO), and the African
Union, implements a work programme on advancing the development dimension of
intellectual property (IP) rights as they relate to key economic sectors. The
work programme is implemented by its Intellectual Property Unit, located
within the Division on Investment and Enterprise.
2. UNCTAD focuses on improving the
effective participation of developing countries in international IP norm
setting, upgrading national IP policies and advancing regional cooperation on
IP rights. It also works on building coherence between IP, investment and trade
policies to meet the Sustainable Development Goals, to address the changes
brought by frontier technologies and to build productive capacity in vital
sectors of developing countries' economies, with a priority on the
bio-pharmaceutical and vaccine sectors. The work programme is partially funded
by donor governments and institutions. Currently, the work programme targets
technical assistance and capacity building in areas related to: (1) local
pharmaceutical and vaccines production, including in the context of COVID-19
and anti‑microbial resistance (AMR); and (2) regional and national IP policies.