Work in progress to approve national IP policy – Authority

Addis Ababa, July 7, 2023 (FBC) – Key activities are being undertaken by the Ethiopian government to approve the national IP policy and to revise some of the domestic laws to facilitate the process of accession to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property and the Madrid protocol, said Woldu Yemmesel, Director General of Ethiopian Intellectual Property Authority.

Ethiopian delegation led by Woldu Yemmesel is participating at the Sixty-Fourth Series of Meetings of the Assemblies of the Member States of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), being held from July 6 to 14, 2023, in Geneva, Switzerland.

Woldu, in his remarks at the assembly, appreciated the important roles that have been played by WIPO in ensuring effective and development-oriented implementation of global Intellectual Property (IP) system that supports developing countries, particularly LDCs in harnessing their resources towards knowledge-based sustainable development.

He explained the role of Ethiopia’s homegrown growth and transformation plan in creating conducive situation for the development of competitive Intellectual Property system in Ethiopia particularly in promoting the creation of competitive manufacturing industry, innovation and transfer of technology in the country.

Woldu underscored the major strides that have been undertaken by the government to create more conducive situations in the IP sectors. In this regard, he said that key activities are being undertaken by the government to approve the national IP policy and to revise some of the domestic laws to facilitate the process of accession to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property and the Madrid protocol, as per the Ethiopian Permanent Mission in Geneva.