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17 April 2020

Every year on April 26, the whole world celebrates the World Intellectual Property Day, which allows informing the general public on how intellectual property (IP) rights contribute to the development of innovation and creativity.

The General Assembly of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) designated April 26 as World IP Day.

WIPO, in turn, is the oldest international organization aimed at protection of intellectual property. In fact, it was founded at a diplomatic conference in 1893. In 1967, the Convention establishing WIPO was signed in Stockholm. Its headquarters is located in Geneva, Switzerland. WIPO became a specialized agency of the United Nations in 1974.

Currently, WIPO consists of 193 member-states. This is more than 90% of the all the countries around the world.

The Republic of Belarus became a member of WIPO on April 26, 1970. The legal basis for cooperation between our State and the international organization was laid in December 2000 by signing of the Cooperation Program between the Government of the Republic of Belarus and WIPO.

In 2003 and 2007, the President of the Republic of Belarus met with the Director General of WIPO, Mr. K. Idris (as part of his official visits to the Republic of Belarus), which resulted in increased cooperation with WIPO.

Nowadays cooperation with WIPO is also regulated by the Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of the Republic of Belarus and WIPO, the Protocol on Cooperation between WIPO and the National Center of Intellectual Property (NCIP) for Training in the Sphere of Intellectual Property Protection in the Republic of Belarus, as well as the Joint Declaration on Strengthening the Intellectual Property System and Development of Innovations in the Republic of Belarus.

On June 3 – 5, 2019, the Director General of WIPO, Mr. Francis Gurry, paid an official visit to the Republic of Belarus. He has repeatedly commended the efforts of the Republic of Belarus to develop the national IP system and enhance its activities at the international level.

Events dedicated to the celebration of the World IP Day are held annually in Belarus and can be represented by seminars, forums and conferences.

And this year, within the framework of the World IP Week, a webinar on topical issues of IP system development will be held at NCIP on April 22. Taking into account the unfavourable epidemiological situation, NCIP decided to hold the event in the format of an online-conference – a webinar.

Moreover, on April 23, the experts of NCIP will take part in the Round Table on "Improvement of the Provisions on Intellectual Property of the Civil Code of the Republic of Belarus" organized by the Standing Commission of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus on Law and State Building, which will also be held online.

In 2020, WIPO's World IP Day campaign is focused on the key role of innovation and intellectual property in ensuring a green future.

The transition to a green economy at the national level should be conducted according to the socio-economic, environmental, cultural and other characteristics of each country. Intellectual property is one of the key tools in implementing the ideas of the green future. It is the inventions, industrial designs, trademarks, works of science, literature and art and other IP objects, which embody the ideas of human genius that promote innovative solutions, new high-tech and quality goods. They facilitate development of the music industry, artistic creativity and thus define the world around us, making our life modern and diverse.

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