Workshop on the Draft National Intellectual Property Policy and IP Needs Assessment

Organised in collaboration with The Government of the Republic of Rwanda and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Kigali, Rwanda

9th March 2009 • Co-organised with International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD); United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)

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The Government of Republic of Rwanda in collaboration with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) are pleased to announce the Workshop on the National Intellectual Property Policy to be held at the Hotel Milles Collines (Kigali, Rwanda), 09:00 to 17:00, March 9, 2009.

The objective of the workshop is to validate the draft Rwanda IP policy and strategy for implementation, as well as to present the needs assessment for Rwanda for a submission under TRIPS Article 66.2 on IP technical assistance.

Background

In its decision of 29 November 2005 extending the transition period for least-developed countries (LDCs) to implement the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement), the World Trade Organization (WTO) Council for TRIPS also invited LDC Members to provide as much information as possible to the Council on their individual priority needs for technical and financial co-operation in order to assist them in taking steps necessary for implementing the Agreement.

Rwanda has made a decision to respond to this request. This initiative was encouraged by the responses and follow-up by Sierra Leone and Uganda, which not only responded substantively to the Council for TRIPS’ request but have been able to develop concrete projects to address the identified needs. Similar to Sierra Leone and Uganda, these efforts to respond to the Council for TRIPS request has been supported by International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) and the resulting report is based on the Diagnostic Toolkit which was prepared by ICTSD and Saana Consulting to aid the assessment of needs for IPR technical and financial assistance (IPRTA) in LDCs.

The needs assessment diagnostic for Rwanda’s technical and financial cooperation needs for the implementation of TRIPS was undertaken between September 2008 and March 2009. The process started with a national stakeholder workshop co-organised by the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MINICOM), ICTSD and UNCTAD in September 2008 followed by interviews with key stakeholders as well as research and data analysis by the lead consultant, Sisule Musungu of IQsensato, and ended with national validation workshop in March 2009.

The overall objective of this needs assessment report is to provide a roadmap for intellectual property stakeholders in Rwanda and the country’s development partners in their efforts to build a national IP and technological infrastructure on a sustainable, pro-development basis, and taking the necessary steps for implementation of the objectives, principles, rights and obligations under the TRIPS Agreement. The report takes into account the LDC status of Rwanda, specifically the need for the country to have maximum policy flexibility in building a sound and viable technological base and the obligations of developed country members to provide technical and financial assistance on mutually agreed terms, as well as incentives for transfer of technology

The workshop is intended to provide updates and validation of the draft national IP Policy and

implementations strategy and of the technical and financial cooperation needs for the implementation of the TRIPs agreement.