ASEAN meeting on intellectual property cooperation opens

Being held by the Ministry of Science and Technology’s Intellectual Property Office (IPO) of Vietnam, the event aims to strengthen regional cooperation in intellectual property (IP), promoting innovation, technology transfer and dissemination, while enhancing regional and global trade liberalisation.

ASEAN’s action plan on IP during 2016-2025 and cooperation in the field within the ASEAN member states and its partners such as the World Intellectual Property Organisation, the European Patent Office , and the Japan Patent Office are high on the agenda.

Making the speech at the opening ceremony, Luu Hoang Long, director of the IPO said, “In recent years, ASEAN has promoted cooperation on intellectual property among member countries as well as expanded cooperation with partners to turn ASEAN into a creative and competitive region in the world.”

He expressed his hope that ASEAN would become a creative region holding a competitive edge globally, adding the AWGIPC had well performed its roles in building, coordinating, and carrying out ASEAN’s action plans on IP.

“I believe that ASEAN will continue effectively implementing its action plan for 2026-2025 and build a post-2025 one,” he added.

Other events to be held on the sidelines of the meeting include the 15th meeting of the IP Committee of the ASEAN – Australia – New Zealand Free Trade Agreement and a ceremony to welcome the World IP Day (April 26).

The AWGIPC was established as a framework on IP cooperation among ASEAN member states adopted at the 5th ASEAN Summit in Bangkok in 1995. The group builds, implements, and evaluates ASEAN’s IP cooperation activities in various phases.

To date, it has completed 81 per cent of the initiatives and activities within ASEAN’s action plan for 2016-2025, while affirming the bloc’s central role with international organisations and partners.

Registration for the protection of intellectual property rights of Vietnamese enterprises abroad is on the rise, contributing significantly to the process of entering foreign markets as well as promoting products.

Vietnam has moved up two places in the Global Innovation Index (GII) in 2023, ranking 46th out of 132 countries and territories, according to a GII report released by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).

The Vietnam Intellectual Property Research Institute (VIPRI), under the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST), coordinated with its partners to host a conference on November 23 in Ho Chi Minh City to discuss the need for legal consultancy on intellectual property (IP) for innovative startups and sci-tech firm.