On June 22, 2021, Daren Tang, Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), held a video meeting with Heads of intellectual property (IP) bodies from a number of countries.

Speaking at the event, D. Tang, as the former head of the National Intellectual Property Office, said that he was aware of the problems faced by the meeting participants. He then presented a detailed report on the Medium Term Strategic Plan for 2022-2026 and the Program and Budget for 2022-2023, prepared as a result of proposals and consultations of Member States.

The Director General stressed the importance of developing quality IP services for the benefit of users worldwide, in particular in the area of IP rights management and technology transfer. These services will be further enhanced through the creation of individual and institutional capacities, including networking between research institutions at the national, regional and international levels.

Kamran Imanov, Chairman of the Board of Intellectual Property Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan, made a speech at the event.

Noting that the grandiose development program presented by the Director General of WIPO is inspiring, K. Imanov stressed that Azerbaijan attaches great importance to cooperation with WIPO, and the Memorandum of Understanding between WIPO and Azerbaijan, as well as the Action Plan for 2018-2021, made an undeniable contribution in the development of the intellectual property system in Azerbaijan. He informed about the economic achievements under the leadership of the Head of State, including the creation of a single state body in the field of IP, and expressing Azerbaijan's support for D. Tang's efforts to implement the goals and mandate of WIPO, he stressed the interest in developing a new Action Plan for the coming years.

Noting that modern technologies affect the existing IP landscape and will continue to influence it, the Head of the Agency informed that on the basis of the Protocol of Intentions signed between the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the President of the World Economic Forum on January 21, 2020, and the Decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan on January 6, 2021 established the "Center for Analysis and Coordination of the Fourth Industrial Revolution" and it began its work on April 1 of this year. K. Imanov also noted: “Intellectual Property Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan participates in the activities of the Center - the Deputy Chairman of Agency is a member of the Supervisory Board of the Center, and our task is to participate in the strategy for implementing the achievements of the IV industrial revolution, stimulate the development of internal technologies and increase inventive activity, including the formation of mechanisms for commercialization and technology transfer. It should be especially noted that the Center for Commercialization and Technology Transfer was established under the Agency.

Emphasizing the importance of the creative sector, he said that over the past two years a number of round tables and forums for small and medium-sized businesses have been held, brochures have been issued, and the concepts of "smart city" and "smart village" (smart-city, smart-village) have been applied in our liberated territories. village), over the past 10 years, the contribution of the creative sector to the economy has increased by 3% and, according to the WIPO methodology, is 5.1% of GDP.

Touching upon issues arising from current trends in the development of IP, the head of the Agency expressed support for WIPO's work in the field of artificial intelligence and agreed with the opinions of experts that “it seems inevitable that property rights will be redefined in relation to classes of information that go beyond the classical categories of rights IS".

Concerning the issue of the correlation between the economy and the protection of IP rights, K. Imanov reported on the Agency's research in this area, and at the same time, noting the intersection of copyright and industrial property, suggested discussing this issue within the framework of WIPO.

Director General of WIPO Daren Tang highly appreciated the speech of the representative of Azerbaijan and asked K. Imanov to share the country's best practices and research results in this area.

The videoconference was attended by authorized representatives of intellectual property bodies from 28 countries of the Eurasian region. Heads of intellectual property organizations from Turkey, Russia, India, Saudi Arabia, Bulgaria, the Kyrgyz Republic, Finland and Jordan also spoke at the event.

The presentations expressed support for WIPO's activities in the development of intellectual property ecosystems, the economics of IP and the commercialization of young people, especially in relation to small and medium-sized businesses.

It should be noted that this event is the second such meeting organized in different time zones. The first meeting was held for the countries of the Far East and the Pacific region. The next event will be organized for representatives of Latin American countries.