The 48th series of Meetings of the Member States of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) was held from September 20 to 29, 2010, in Geneva, Switzerland. Delegations from member countries met in ordinary or extraordinary sessions, during which were exposed on the issues included in the Agenda and approved the documents prepared by the WIPO Secretariat on the sessions of 20 governing bodies of the Member States of WIPO and Unions administered by WIPO.

At the opening ceremony of the Assemblies, the world-famous singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder addressed an impassioned call, urging delegations of the WIPO Member States to reach agreement on enhanced accessibility of copyright content for persons with physical disabilities.

Ministers and delegates from 184 Member States of the World Intellectual Property Organization have highly appreciated the reforms proposed by WIPO Director General, Mr. Francis Gurry, and welcomed the new Medium-Term Strategic Plan, which defines the organization guidelines on Organization's activities over the next five years.

Presenting the Medium-Term Strategic Plan of WIPO, Francis Gurry stressed that it sets out a framework based on WIPO’s nine strategic goals, proposes desired outcomes in relation to each of those goals, and outlines strategies to achieve those outcomes, including the main objective - to create conditions to ensure that WIPO keeps pace with the changing external environment and that it delivers clear results in pursuit of its overall mission to promote innovation and creativity for the economic, social and cultural development of all countries. Delegates welcomed the significant progress made by WIPO in implementation of the strategic realignment program launched in late 2008. During the period under review, a record of twenty memoranda of understanding were signed with member states, reflecting increased engagement in WIPO’s support activities and interest in bilateral cooperation, including technical and legislative assistance.

Delegations also examined other strategic issues such as: WIPO Report on the implementation of WIPO Program for 2008-2009, the Financial Report for 2008-2009, the WIPO Policy in the reserve funds and investments, the Language Policy of WIPO, the WIPO Policy on Foreign Offices, the Strategic Modernization Program, the current issues of the Patent Cooperation Treaty System (PCT), the Madrid System Concerning the International Registration of Marks, the Hague System of International Deposit of Industrial Designs, Domain Names System in Internet, etc.

There were also discussed projects related to the International Year of Biodiversity, the work of the Committee on Development and Intellectual Property, the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights, the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore, the Standing Committee on the Law of Patents, the Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications, the WIPO Committee on Standards, the Advisory Committee on Enforcement of Rights, etc.

At the closing ceremony of the General Assembly, the WIPO Director General expressed gratitude to the officials of the governments of WIPO Member States who took part in the High Level Segment of the Assemblies entitled “Innovation, growth and development: the role of intellectual property and the national experience in this area”, noting their participation reflected “a high level political engagement and interest in the Organization’s work.” The Chair of the WIPO General Assembly, Ambassador Alberto Dumont, who is also Argentina’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organizations in Geneva, welcomed the positive outcome of the Assemblies, saying the sessions had been “extremely fruitful.”

Along with the approximately 70 ministers, deputy ministers, state secretaries of member countries of WIPO from every corner of the world, who took part in the High Level Segment Assembly, took also an active part the Moldovan delegation headed by Mr. Dorin RECEAN, Deputy Minister of Information Technologies and Communications who presented the Government's position on the Agenda in question and shared the national experience targeting the role of intellectual property in promoting innovations, in the growth and development, reaffirming the commitment of our country towards these objectives.

AGEPI delegation, led by Dr. Lilia BOLOCAN, Director General, supported the position of the Republic of Moldova on the topics of the WIPO General Assembly consolidated Agenda and promoted the interests of the country in the current round of meetings of WIPO Member States. Currently the Republic of Moldova is a member of 15 assemblies and governing bodies of WIPO and the Unions administered by WIPO.

During sessions of the WIPO General Assembly, the Moldovan delegation had a series of bilateral meetings with Mr. Francis Gurry, WIPO Director General, Mr. Johannes Christian Wichard, Deputy Director General of WIPO on global issues of IP, Mr. Michaly Swantner, Director of the Department for Certain Countries in Europe and Asia, and Mr. Alexander Grigoriev, President of the Eurasian Patent Office, as well as representatives of national IP offices of the EU and CIS Member States.

For details on the round-up of the 48th series of WIPO Assemblies access: http://www.wipo.int/pressroom/en/articles/2010/article_0038.html