General Director of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) Francis Gurry. — Photo vietq.vn

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Tran Viet Thanh held a working session with General Director of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) Francis Gurry on Wednesday to discuss further collaboration between the two sides.

During the meeting, Gurry expressed his pleasure at the increasingly fruitful co-operation between the WIPO and Viet Nam, saying that he hoped to visit Viet Nam in order to deepen bilateral ties.

Thanh, who is also Director of the National Office of Intellectual Property of Viet Nam, thanked the WIPO for its contributions to the development of Viet Nam's intellectual property system and his agency.

He asked the WIPO to help Viet Nam's preparations for joining international treaties in this field, calling on the organisation to send experts to help Viet Nam train human resources and raise public awareness of international treaties.

Talking to Geneva-based Vietnam News Agency correspondents, Deputy Minister Thanh said the WIPO had invited around 650 Vietnamese officials to attend international training courses, conferences and workshops on IP, and worked with Viet Nam to organise training programmes for thousands of local personnel on aspects related to IP protection and implementation.

Viet Nam is a member of ten international treaties on intellectual property managed by the WIPO, and sends representatives to permanent meetings of the WIPO's member bodies.

The country is also considering joining other international treaties such as the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs and Models Applicable , the Lisbon Agreement for the Protection of Appellations of Origin , and others related to genre sources, traditional knowledge and folk culture.

The WIPO is a global forum for the promotion of IP policies, services, information and co-operation. As a specialised UN agency, the organisation assists its 188 member states in developing a balanced international IP legal framework to meet society's evolving needs.— VNS