Habari za Punde

First Vice President's Speech at the opening of 36th Session of ARIPO


OPENING REMARKS BY THE 1ST VICE PRESIDENT OF ZANZIBAR HON. SEIF SHARIF HAMAD, AT THE OFFICIAL

OPENING OF THE THIRTY SIXTH SESSION OF THE
ADMINISTRATIVE COUNCIL OF AIRPO AT ZANZIBAR

BEACH RESORT NOVEMBER 26 – 30, 2012

 

Chairperson of the Administrative Council of ARIPO,

Hon. Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs,

Hon. Ministers of the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar,

Principal Secretaries,

Mr. Gift Sibanda, Director General of ARIPO,

Members of Administrative Council of ARIPO,


Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama, Deputy Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO),

Mr. Paulin Edou Director General of the African Intellectual Property Organization, OAPI,

Representative of Cooperating Partners,

Invited guests,

Distinguished ladies and gentlemen.

 

It is indeed a great pleasure and an honor for me to be invited to officiate at this official opening of the 36th Session of the Administrative Council of African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO). On behalf of the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar, on behalf of the peoples of Zanzibar and on my own behalf I wish to warmly welcome you to Zanzibar – the home of spices and cloves.

 

We the people of Zanzibar, and our Government are very happy.  We are happy because you have selected Zanzibar as a venue to your 36th Session of the Administrative Council of ARIPO in preference to other equally important and historical venues.  I personally appreciate the importance you have attached in your choice of venue and we thank you very much for that.  As much as I would express my sincere gratitude to ARIPO for bringing this important event to Zanzibar, I do hope that you will enjoy your stay here in Zanzibar and at the end of the day you will not regret for choosing Zanzibar to be the venue of this gathering.

 

I am also pleased to note with satisfaction the preference that you are giving to this meeting by your presence.  No doubt this is a reflection of the importance that you attached to the annual meeting of the Administrative Council of ARIPO.

 

The Council session provides an important forum for the Organization to share experiences in the field of intellectual property as well as to map up strategies for future development of the Organization as provided for under the Lusaka Agreement, the Treaty that established the Organization more than thirty (30) year ago.

 

I am informed that the current Session will, among other things, discuss important Intellectual Properties (IP) issues which are of critical concern to Africa.  These include but not limited to matters related to the protection of new varieties of plants.  This is indeed a very important item in your deliberations as it relates to food security, an issue of concern for many an African country.  I am pleased therefore to welcome the delegation from International Union for Protection of New varieties of Plants (UPOV) which is based in Geneva whose expert advice will provide an important ingredient to your discussions.

 

Likewise, another important issue which your organization must strive to achieve is to map up strategies for speedy ratification or accession of the protocol on Traditional Knowledge and Expressions of Folklore.  This Swakopmund Protocol which was signed in Namibia in 2010 is important in two main aspects.  It protects the rights on Traditional Knowledge which is basically an Industrial Property avenue, in which case your Intellectual Property Organization is much concerned. Secondly it deals with Folklore province, of which a copyright administration is involved.  Unfortunately while members have been very keen in the adoption of “Swakopmund Protocol” on the protection of traditional knowledge and expressions of folklore, regrettably, very few countries have either acceded or ratified the said Protocol.  It is therefore my humble appeal to your Council to deliberate, discuss and strategize on the subject matter.  We should be mindful of the fact that the African continent is endowed with a lot of resources on traditional knowledge and folklore expressions and therefore, the Swakopmund Protocol should be seen as a key tool in ensuring that our traditional knowledge and expressions of folklore are adequately protected against misappropriation.

 

In deliberating on the Traditional Cultural Expression (TCEs) or Folklore; the session should bear in mind that in developing Copyright location; Zanzibar is one where the Swahili content, culture, history, location, sights and sounds can be delivered all at once with rich traditional and cultural expressions.  ARIPO should set strategic guidelines, develop robust and effective methods to tackle copyright theft and infringement so as to foster the economic potential from Copyright Industry.

 

Copyright theft and infringement continues to severely damage both investment in artists and our national economies at large through a number of new films and music releases in many parts of the world.  Copyright industry has a big impact to the economy. If these rights are protected the creators and rightholders will benefit.  We in Zanzibar have decided to formalize copyright industry through Tanzania Revenue Authority, and now, the process of Branding Zanzibar Cloves and Zanzibar spices is underway.  In this respect ARIPO has a major role to keep Industrial Property’s and copyright’s plan abreast so as to balance the situation.  It should as well extend its efforts to helping the Copyright Offices by setting modern and effective copyright administration systems so as to ensure that the system is concomitant to the development of science and technology through out the world at this particular time.

 

As the concept of conventional “Intellectual Property Rights Protection” have been designed by western and developed countries, Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and some developing countries need to be given ample time to prepare appropriate administrative structures and legal systems to meet the requirements set by different international IP treaties and conventions.  

My message to you is that you should at all times plan for capacity building of the  IP offices, law enforcement organs and different IP practitioners.  This will no doubt strengthen your IPR protection systems.  With that in mind ARIPO needs to develop long and short term training programs which will enable maximum utilization of the ARIPO Academy to the benefit of all member countries.  In this connection, I would like to highly commend the Secretariat for vigorously implementing the mandate on training so as to assist member countries in minimizing the gap that the continent has in the lack of trained personnel in the field of intellectual property. 

 

I am also pleased to hear that this training is also being extended to IP practitioners who have been traditionally performing functions none other than being post office boxes for foreign practitioners.

 

Let me therefore at this juncture; take this opportunity to congratulate all the members of the Administrative Council and the Secretariat for competently carrying forward the noble objectives for which the Organization was established.

 

Our Government with a friendly assistance of WIPO is in the process of preparing our Intellectual Property Policy.  We will therefore have a close watch of your deliberations so that we could take the qualities as a model and your shortcomings as a warning.  Dear delegates, let me refresh you a little on the administration of Industrial Properties and Copyrights activities in Tanzania.  This is not a Union issue as per Art. 4(3) of the constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania. As such, Zanzibar on one hand and Tanzania Mainland on the other, are legally required to formulate their own policies and administrative frame work on IP Rights and Copyright.  No doubt that WIPO and ARIPO are fully aware of this constitutional arrangement, but I would, however, request these two organizations not only to continue considering this arrangement in their development plans, programs and activities, but also to convey this constitutional message to all Industrial Properties agents and attorneys such as patents and trade mark attorneys.  This will economically boost Zanzibar when the stated attorneys designate Tanzania in their applications to seek Intellectual Properties Rights protection in the United Republic of Tanzania.

 

The African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) continues to religiously follow its tradition of holding its annual Administrative Council Session concurrently with Round Tables on Topical Issues in the field of intellectual property.  I am informed that during this Administrative Council Session again, the Session will be held concurrently with round table on topical issues such as national reports on the status of the development of a national IP policies and strategies.  This is a welcoming information of which will guide you on a proper direction towords your intended goals.

 

I am given to understand that your round table discussion will also deliberate issues related to geographical indications.  In this connection and as the World Intellectual Property Organization has a number of projects related to geographical indication I believe therefore, that that will be an appropriate occasion to highlight some of these projects.  Field trips would be a further advantage to your deliberations.

 

Let me briefly take this opportunity now to welcome the Deputy Director General of WIPO Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama, and to express our utmost appreciation for the support which WIPO has given to Zanzibar for the implementation of WIPO projects which are designated to Zanzibar.  Zanzibar has just concluded the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between WIPO, International Trade Center (ITC) and the Government of Zanzibar on November 7 this year.  The MoU is aiming at assisting Zanzibar in the implementation of the “Zanzibar Cloves Branding Project”.  This will assist Zanzibar in utilizing the Industrial Properties independently thereby increasing export income for Zanzibaris.

 

In connection with Geographical indications, I wish also to extend our special welcome to the EU delegation headed by the Deputy Director General for Agriculture and rural Development of the European Commission, Ms Loretta Dormal-Marino.  I wish to congratulate her and the Director General of ARIPO, Mr. Sibanda for concluding an administrative memorandum of understanding which is a working document aimed at supporting the development of geographical indications at ARIPO and its member states.

 

I wish also to extend my appreciation to the Representative of the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA).  KOICA is doing an excellent job in supporting ARIPO and its member states in upgrading their information and technology system.  There has been a wide gap between the developed and the developing countries in terms of digital IT system.  KOICA has started to bridge the gap.  We in Zanzibar and Tanzania in general do appreciate your efforts and we thank you very much for this.

 

The complex nature of intellectual property, in particular its international  character requires interaction with other States and organizations that have a lot in common with ARIPO.  In this respect, I wish to pay special tribute to the Secretariat of the Organization for vigorously pursuing strategic partnership with other states and organizations in the field of intellectual property.  Let me therefore take this opportunity to welcome all our strategic partners, here present, including International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organizations (IFFRO);  The International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), France’s National Inter-Professional Association for Seeds and Plants (GNIS), Africa Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI) Korean International Co-operation Agency (KOICA), Common Market for Eastern and southern Africa (COMESA) and the East African Community (ECA).

 

I also wish to welcome the Industrial Properties practitioners.  I know that the participation of the practitioners continues to increase.  These practitioners are a special link between the generators of innovation and invention and therefore you have a very crucial role to the development of the Industrial Properties system; hence your primary importance.

 

In conclusion, I wish to appeal again to WIPO and ARIPO, that the future progress on this important task depends on you and your organizations, and more important your deliberations.  We as a government will give you every support towards achieving this goal.

 

I wish you fruitful deliberations and comfortable stay in our beautiful Islands. Please take time short as it may be, to be acquainted with some of our history, culture and development activities. 

 

May I now declare that the 36th session of the administrative Council of ARIPO officially opened.

 

Ahsanteni sana

 

I thank you all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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