1. Thank you Mr President,
2. The Singapore delegation congratulates you, Mr President, on your chairmanship of this august body. We are confident that with you at helm, this Assembly can conclude its work productively and satisfactorily. In this regard, my delegation conveys to you our appreciation for your skilful guidance of the smooth transition of WIPO’s leadership at the Assembly.
3. We would like to take this opportunity to add to the tribute to Director-General Dr Kamil Idris for his significant contributions to WIPO and the international IP arena, at the helm of this important organization. We thank him and wish him well for his future endeavours.
4. We also heartily congratulate Mr Francis Gurry for his election as the new Director-General of WIPO by acclamation. We are pleased to see Mr Gurry, with his rich experience, technical competence and strategic outlook, assume the leadership of WIPO. As Mr Gurry has highlighted in his statement, there are many daunting challenges facing WIPO and the international IP system. We have every confidence that Mr Gurry will ably lead WIPO through these challenges and to greater heights in serving the global community. Singapore will extend to Mr Gurry our fullest cooperation.
5. WIPO and the Singapore government share a common commitment in promoting IP. Singapore has long recognized the salience of IP as an important and effective tool to catalyse and support social and economic development. We are therefore pleased to be a partner of WIPO in the efforts to help those in our region develop the necessary core competencies, establish robust national IP systems and address a range of IP issues. Singapore will continue to lend its full support to WIPO in its primary mission of promoting the protection of IP worldwide to stimulate domestic creativity, local and foreign investment, and the transfer of technology.
6. For Singapore, the last 12 months had witnessed further fruitful and rewarding cooperation with WIPO and the WIPO Singapore Office. Following the last General Assembly, a high-level dialogue of the heads of Asia-Pacific IP offices took place in Singapore in December 2007, where they deliberated on a range of policy issues and operational challenges facing IP offices today. This was convened in conjunction with the WIPO Regional Forum on Intellectual Property, Innovation and Public Health which addressed the IP-related issues in supporting medical research and promoting affordable access to pharmaceuticals.
7. This year, we organized several more capacity building activities under the auspices of the Singapore-WIPO Memorandum of Understanding on Joint Training for the Asia-Pacific region. This included a two-week patent drafting course in February, and a workshop on the formulation and implementation of national IP development plans in early June. A sub-regional arbitration and mediation workshop was held in Singapore last month.
8. Moving ahead, Singapore and WIPO will be co-organising a two-day forum next January to further the regional dialogue on the administration and enforcement of copyright and related rights. Also in the pipeline will be an ASEAN workshop on policy options in the area of copyright limitations and exceptions.
9. Singapore and WIPO have also worked on many projects outside of the MoU framework. In April this year, we co-organised with WIPO the Patent Cooperation Treaty Asian Conference which was attended by over 100 participants from the Asia-Pacific. Following this Assembly, Singapore will play host next month to another WIPO meeting, this time to a group of copyright experts to update the existing WIPO “Guide on Surveying the Economic Contribution of Copyright- based Industries”.
10. Singapore also strongly supports and actively contributes to the capacity building initiatives in regional groupings such as ASEAN and APEC as well as under our close collaborative partnerships with the State Intellectual Property Office of the People’s Republic of China and the European Patent Office. Our recently concluded Memorandum of Understanding with the USPTO gives another platform to further these international engagement efforts.
11. On the domestic front, we regularly update our IP legislations to keep abreast of the fast-moving developments. The Singapore Parliament recently passed amendments to our patent legislation to implement the TRIPS protocol on public health. One are we are currently reviewing is the jurisdiction of our copyright tribunal to keep up with the growth in the use of copyright materials in the digital form.
12. To promote innovation and creativity in a knowledge-based economy, comprehensive and robust IP legislations must be complemented by efforts to foster greater IP-savviness amongst businesses and to help them unlock their IP potential. We have therefore intensified our efforts, with further improved programmes, to promote IP management by businesses and other stakeholders. SMEs, in particular, require assistance in incorporating IP more effectively into their business planning and capitalising on their IP to achieve business goals. Our objective is to develop a vibrant IP ecosystem that can position Singapore as a hub for IP intensive ventures and industries.
13. In conclusion, the past year for Singapore has been a busy year of successful collaborations with WIPO and our other partners. More collaborative activities will be conducted this coming year. Singapore is pleased to have developed a longstanding relationship of cooperation with WIPO. Our joint activities span many fronts, touching on many aspects of intellectual property. We place our appreciation to Director-General Dr Kamil Idris, under whose leadership Singapore-WIPO cooperation was significantly raised. Under the stewardship of the new Director-General Mr Francis Gurry, we look forward to expanding and intensifying our multi-faceted cooperation with WIPO to an even higher level.
14. Thank you Mr President.