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AFRICAN GROUP OPENING STATEMENT AT THE THIRTY-SECOND SESSION OF THE COMMITTEE ON DEVELOPMENT AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY (CDIP 32)

Thank you, Madam Chair, 

Kenya is honoured to deliver this statement on behalf of the African Group. 

The African Group congratulates you madam chair and your vice chairs upon your election to office. The Group has full confidence in your abilities to guide the affairs of this Committee.  We also wish to extend our appreciation to the outgoing Chair and vice chairs for their excellent stewardship of the Committee during their tenure.  We also thank the Director-General and Secretariat for their efforts towards preparing for this meeting. 

Madam Chair, 

The Groups underscores the importance of Intellectual Property (IP) in fostering innovation, creativity, and socio-economic development, while recognising that the benefits of IP should be balanced with the need to ensure equitable access to knowledge, technology transfer, and capacity building, particularly for developing and least developed countries. The Group looks forward to more attention being given to flexibilities, given the significant role that they can play in accelerating innovation and socio-economic development.

Furthermore, the African Group is pleased to take note of the Director Generals report on the progress made towards the implementation of WIPOs development agenda contained in document CDIP/32/2.  We however hope that future reports of the Director General could pay more attention to the implication of IP Centric approaches to development issues in the global south, particularly in restricting the ability of developing economies in the promotion of broad economic growth and social welfare. 

Madam Chair,

The African Group acknowledges the significant progress achieved so far in implementing WIPO’s Development Agenda recommendations and encourages the organisation to redouble efforts toward their achievement, with a particular focus on issues such as:-

• technical assistance and capacity building, 
• access to knowledge and technology transfer, 
• the protection of Traditional Knowledge, Traditional Cultural Expressions, and Genetic Resources and 
• promotion of South-South and triangular cooperation.

However, the group emphasises that the Development Agenda must be rooted in substantive work, including possible norm setting activities. It cannot be merely confined to activities around technical assistance and cooperation, important as these may be. Indeed, this is the spirit which informed the creation of the CDIP and it is crucial that we remain alive to this key tenet. The African Group stands ready to work with other regional groups, delegations and the secretariat in mapping out areas for further work in this regard. 

It is also important that we establish clear strategies and metrics linking WIPO’s work to the delivery of sustainable development goals (SDG’s). While many of WIPO’s existing activities may contribute to the achievement of the SDG’s, it is important to have deliberate planning tailored towards achievement of these objectives. The mainstreaming of the development in WIPO remains a key priority for the African Group. For us, development considerations must extend beyond the CDIP. Indeed, we look forward to various WIPO forums and committees incorporating the development agenda in their planning and reporting. In this regard, we look forward to WIPO evolving a coordinated monitoring and evaluation mechanism to track progress in the implementation of the Development agenda throughout WIPO. 

As I conclude, Chair, let me reiterate the African Groups readiness to engage effectively in discussions at this CDIP session and to assure you of our support as you steer the affairs of this committee. 

Thank you.