WIPO Pledges Support for Viet Nam

Geneva, January 21, 2010
PR/2010/630

The importance of intellectual property (IP) in promoting innovation and boosting national economic development in Viet Nam topped discussions between Viet Nam’s President Nguyen Minh Triet and WIPO Director General Francis Gurry in Hanoi this week.  Mr. Gurry pledged the Organization’s continuing support in further enhancing Viet Nam’s national IP capacity to innovate and achieve sustained economic growth. 

The President confirmed Viet Nam’s commitment to protecting IP rights and noted progress in the modernization of national IP legislative and administrative frameworks.  He called on WIPO’s continued assistance to support the country’s full integration of IP into its national development strategy to become a knowledge-based economy and producer of high-end, value-added goods and services. 

In a meeting with Mr. Gurry, First Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung stressed that the sustained development of the national IP system in line with international obligations is a priority for his government. He reiterated that continued support from WIPO in further strengthening the national IP system would help facilitate the country’s on-going economic transformation.  

Mr. Gurry noted Viet Nam’s impressive rates of economic growth in recent years and its resilience to the global financial crisis.  He called Viet Nam an “exemplary role model in exercising IP rights” and said its commitment to encouraging innovation helps to promote its image and products abroad and attract investment.  The Director General promised support for Viet Nam’s ongoing modernization of its national IP system and the training of IP specialists.  The aim, he said, is to help enable state-of-the-art services to businesses, inventors and creators through the IP system.  

During his visit, from January 18 to 20, 2010, Mr. Gurry also held talks with the Minister of Science and Technology Hoang Van Phong and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Doan Xuan Hung. He met with senior officials from the National Office of Industrial Property of Viet Nam (NOIP), the Copyright Office of Viet Nam (COV) the Plant Varieties Office of Viet Nam, and several academic institutions.