In a statement issued here on Friday, the ministry's director of cooperation and education, Sri Lastami, revealed that the meeting was part of the preparation for the GRTKF Diplomatic Conference, which will take place from May 13–25 in Geneva, Switzerland.
"The GRTKF protection issue started in 2001, but until now, no agreement has been reached," Lastami added.
The keynote speakers at the event included chairperson of the Namibia Business and Intellectual Property Authority Board (BIPA), Immanuel Hanabeb; executive director of Namibia's Ministry of Trade and Industrialization, Sikongo Haihambo; and assistant director general of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Edward Kwakwa.
Lastami said that the forum began with a discussion on international instruments and objectives, as formulated in Article 1 of the draft GRTKF protection agreement.
In addition, the meeting also discussed disclosure requirements, for instance, whether they will be formal or substantive requirements, as well as their relation to international agreements, as stipulated in Article 8 and Article 10's general principles for implementation.
"We also discussed whether the instruments will only be applied to patents or also include human genetic sources, digital sequence information (DSI), and derivatives, as stipulated in Article 9," she added.
Not only that, she continued, the discussions included indigenous people's rights as well as access and benefit sharing.
The GRTKF meeting in Namibia was attended by representatives from several other countries, including Australia, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, and WIPO.
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Translator: Agatha V, Kenzu
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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