During several recent multilateral forums on IP, ASPAC mentioned an initiative named “Country Plan”, which was formulated by ASPAC in order to set up a new bilateral technical cooperation mechanism between WIPO and Members Country. Aiming at having a thorough understanding of this initiative, IP Viet Nam cooperated with ASPAC to hold the virtual meeting on March 11st, 2021. 

Attending the meeting, from WIPO’s side, there were Mr. Andrew Michael Ong - Director of ASPAC, Mr. Yemin Than - senior officer of ASPAC in charge of cooperation between Viet Nam and WIPO, and Mr. Inayet Syed - external expert of WIPO. From IP Viet Nam’s side, there were Mr. Tran Le Hong - Deputy Director General of IP Viet Nam and representatives of IP Viet Nam’s divisions attending live the meeting. Additionally, Mr. Dao Nguyen, Second Secretary, Permanent Mission of Viet Nam in Geneva has also attended live the meeting. 

 

IP Viet Nam’s Deputy Director General Tran Le Hong (third from the right) and representatives of relevant divisions attended live the meeting 

  

At the meeting, Mr. Inayet Syed, WIPO’s external expert, delivered a presentation on the overview of Country Plan initiative. WIPO’s experts also answered several related inquiries from IP Viet Nam’s staffs. 

Generally, Country Plan is aimed at setting up a bilateral technical cooperation on IP between WIPO and the Member Country. The formulated cooperation, as a result of the Country Plan, is expected as a consolidated, inherited and flexible mechanism, continuously during a long term (6 years), towards meeting demands of the beneficiary country. The Country Plan is formulated on the ground of strategic goals, programs, budget and Development Agenda of WIPO, as well as on ASEAN Action Plan on IP. 

Three clusters of the Country Plan include: (i) Updated IP Legislative, Policy and Normative Frameworks; (ii) Enhanced Efficiency at National IP Office and IP Registration System; (iii) Strengthened Research Institutions and SMEs to Support Innovation. 

Under the framework of the Country Plan, WIPO and the beneficiary Member Country will discuss and develop annual action plans to ensure that the Country Plan complies with changes of demands, development orientation of the country. The Country Plan has been set up with monitoring and evaluation mechanisms to ensure implementation of the Plan’s targets. 

 

Delegates attended live the Meeting 

On behalf of IP Viet Nam, Deputy Director General Tran Le Hong expressed his thanks for the enthusiastic cooperation that WIPO and ASPAC, in particular, extend to Viet Nam. Mr. Tran Le Hong also highly appraised the goals of the Country Plan and appreciated that ASPAC selected Viet Nam as one of the first Country Members to carry out the initiative. 

To wrap up the meeting, two Sides have agreed on the further steps to implement this initiative. Particularly, IP Viet Nam will study the draft Country Plan for Viet Nam that ASPAC has formulated then will continue to discuss with WIPO in the coming time./.  

International Cooperation Division