A-G leads govt delegation to 64th General Assembly of WIPO

 The Attorney-Gen­eral and Minister of Justice, Mr Godfred Yeboah Dame, last Friday, held discussions on World Intellectual Property with the Director-General of the World Intellectual Property Organisa­tion, Mr Daren Tang, in Geneva, Switzerland.

This was on the sidelines of the ongoing General Assembly of member states of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) at the 64th edition of the General Assembly in Geneva.

In his remarks, Mr Tang com­mended Ghana’s strong leadership on intellectual property in Africa and said Ghana’s position as the Coordinator of the African Group at WIPO could bring development if backed by good leadership.

He noted that the registration of the “Bolga basket” by Ghana as a geographical indication from Ghana as well as the deposit of the instrument of ratification of the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (the UPOV Conven­tion) by the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice in November, 2021, were very remarkable steps by Ghana in the protection of intellectual property.

Mr Tang said he was willing to achieve significant milestone in intellectual property.

Mr Dame thanked WIPO for inviting him and said “Ghana will continue to deepen its special rela­tionship with the Director-General in particular and WIPO in gener­al.”

As Coordinator of the African Group, the Attorney-General told Mr Tang that Ghana would work with WIPO to consolidate the achievements of the organisation.

Mr Dame asked for WIPO’s technical assistance for the upgrad­ing of Ghana’s intellectual property system, described as the “IPAS system” for Intellectual Property Office administration including the Madrid Module at Ghana’s national offices, in order to enable the office provide efficient services to users.

He said he was hopeful that Mrs Loretta Asiedu, a competent, hard-working and the acting Direc­tor of the African Bureau, would be considered for the substantive position of Director at the African Bureau of WIPO, when nomina­tions were opened.

The Attorney-General whose Ministry is responsible for matters concerning intellectual property rights in Ghana, led a govern­ment delegation consisting of the Registrar-General of Ghana, Mrs Grace Issahaque, senior officials of the Ministry of Justice and Ghana’s Ambassador to Switzerland, Mr Emmanuel Kwame Antwi, to the 64th edition of the General As­sembly of the world body held at the headquarters of WIPO.