Director General of the WIPO Francis Gurry Visited and Worked at IP Vietnam

In the morning of March 23rd, 2017, WIPO DG Mr. Francis Gurry paid a visit to Intellectual Property Office of Vietnam (IP Vietnam). The meeting was attended by Mr. Tran Viet Thanh, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology (MOST), Ambassador Duong Chi Dung of the Permanent Mission of Vietnam in Geneva, Mr. Dinh Huu Phi, Director General of IP Vietnam, Deputies Director General and Divisions’ representatives of IP Vietnam.

Speaking at the ceremony, IP Vietnam DG Mr. Dinh Huu Phi warmly welcomed Mr. Francis Gurry to visit IP Vietnam. He appreciated the significance of the visit in the context that Vietnam increasingly aware of the intellectual property’s important role in innovation and socio-economic development. He is very pleased to inform WIPO DG Francis Gurry of the achievements have been recorded by IP Vietnam. Outstanding achievements must be mentioned: IP Vietnam has basically fulfilled the tasks assigned by the Government and leaders of MOST. Accordingly, IP Vietnam has advised the Government and MOST to build a completed legal system on intellectual property, in conformity with international standards, facilitating innovation, production and business activities. Industrial property rights establishing has been well implemented, and the number of filed and handled applications has been increased. IP Vietnam has also effectively implemented activities to support for IP assets development. Training, disseminating and outreaching activities on IP knowledge for the society have made much progress. The international IP integration has been strengthened.

To achieve the impressive results mentioned above, in addition to the attention of the Government, Prime Minister, the direct and effective guidance of Leader’s MOST, IP Vietnam also received great and important support from WIPO, especially on issues related to policies and legislative development, human resources training, exchanging of IP information and raising public awareness.

Besides supporting Vietnam to build a National Strategy on IP, IP Vietnam DG also wished that WIPO would continue providing technical assistance for Vietnam through: WIPO Development Agenda; Joining and implementing international treaties administered by WIPO; Exchanging patent data; Developing of search tools and engine for IP application examining; Facilitating Vietnam’s active participation in WIPO’s organization and activities (such as recruiting internships and staff of Vietnam to work at WIPO); Training and capacity building for IP Vietnam staff and relevant agencies. IP Vietnam DG also asked WIPO DG to consider the organization of specialized workshops on IP services, infrastructure and databases to help raise public awareness; especially supporting Vietnam to participate in creating a translation machine project to be able to widely transmit the world’s patent information to the Vietnamese creative community.

WIPO DG expressed his willingness to continue supporting and cooperating closely with IP Vietnam on issues related to intellectual property. The signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between MOST and WIPO is the first step in realizing his commitments. In the coming time, WIPO experts will work together with the national consultant team to draft the content of the Strategy to shape the development of the Vietnam intellectual property system in general and IP Vietnam in particular, with the aim to turning intellectual property into the driving force for innovation and sustainable development.

At the end of the ceremony, on behalf of IP Vietnam, Mr. Dinh Huu Phi would like to extend his sincere thanks to WIPO and Mr. Francis Gurry for his precious support to Vietnam. He hopes that WIPO will further develop and continue to fulfill its mission of leading the global intellectual property system, including the co-operative relationship between Vietnam and WIPO.

Source: IP Information Division