Singapore Government Press Release

Media Division, Ministry of Information and The Arts,

36th Storey, PSA Building, 460 Alexandra Road, Singapore 119963.

Tel: 3757794/5

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MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS PRESS STATEMENT

THE SINGAPORE - WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ORGANISATION (WIPO) JOINT TRAINING PROGRAMME IN THE FIELD OF INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY

Singapore and the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) have agreed to establish a joint training programme for developing countries in Asia and the Pacific region. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on this cooperation was signed on Friday 21 February 1997 in Geneva by Mr K Kesavapany, the Singapore Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva and Dr Arpad Bogsch, Director General of WIPO.

The joint training programme will enable Singapore and the WIPO to pool their resources and share their expertise with developing countries. Participants from developing countries in Asia and the Pacific region will be able to learn from the experiences shared by Singapore and the WIPO. The specific field of training will be jointly decided by the two parties. It may include subjects such as the use of technological information contained in patent documents in industry and R&D activities, the management and accessing of patent collections in CD-ROMs and data-bases, computerized patent and trademark administration, the promotion and commercialization of inventions in R&D institutions and industry, the promotion of university-industry relations, and the teaching of intellectual property laws in universities.

. For Singapore, this is the 13th joint training programme with an international organisation or developed country. It reflects the growing support by our partner countries and international organisations for Singapore's technical assistance approach of focusing on human resource development as a vital catalyst of economic development. Singapore has joint training programmes with Japan, Germany, United Kingdom, Republic of Korea, Australia, Canada, Norway, the Commonwealth Secretariat, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Colombo Plan Secretariat and the World Trade Organisation. Singapore also cooperates with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to provide special training programmes for developing countries.

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MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

21 FEBRUARY 1997

[Note to Editors :For more details on the Singapore-WIPO Joint Training Programme in the Field of Industrial Property, please contact Ms Ong Yen Cheng, Senior Technical Cooperation Officer,Ministry of Foreign Affairs at Tel : 330 5857.]