Tweet

 

Basseterre, St. Kitts, October 25, 2016 (SKNIS):  The Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis is equipped with a well-established Intellectual Property (IP) system which will make a great contribution to the National Trade Policy objective, said Xiaoping Wu, Counselor, Intellectual Property, Government Procurement and Competition Policy Division at the World Trade Organization (WTO).

 

Mrs. Wu was at the time speaking at the opening ceremony of the WTO National Workshop on the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) at the Ocean Terrace Inn.

 

“St. Kitts and Nevis has updated its substantive IP Legislation in 2000 in order to fully comply with the TRIPS Agreement so [the Federation] has a very good and a very sound IP legal framework which is extremely important for the IP enforcement,” said Xiaoping Wu. “And St. Kitts and Nevis remains one of the fastest growing economies in the Eastern Caribbean States, with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of about US$700.”

 

She explained that the TRIPS Agreement is often described as one of the three pillars of the WTO Agreement with the other two pillars being the Agreements on goods and on services.

 

“The establishment of the TRIPS Agreement changed the face of the International IP Law and policy making over the past 20 years,” said Mrs. Wu, while adding that over the years more and more developing countries participated in the IP Trade, as they tap into the global value chains and enhance their innovation capacity.

 

The WTO counselor applauded the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis for organizing the workshop and stated that the topic is not only critical but also pertinent to the country’s National Trade Policy. She noted that all member countries of WTO should pay keen attention to the workings of the organization.

 

“I would like to highlight that it is very important for WTO members including St. Kitts and Nevis to fully understand what is WTO, especially the TRIPS Obligation,” she said. “But meanwhile, it is also very important for our member countries to understand what’s their right under the WTO Agreement are and what kind of flexibility out members have to use IP to meet their national objective.”

 

It is Mrs. Wu’s hope that the workshop will enrich participant’s knowledge on the TRIPS Agreement and IP in general, while at the same time gaining a better understanding and appreciation of IP related challenges faced by participants in their day to day work.