WIPO Asia - Pacific Regional Forum on Policy Development, Institution Building and Demystification on Intellectual Property
August 29-31, 2001 New Delhi

Welcome Address by Mr Chirayu R Amin, President, FICCI

Mr. V Govidarajan, Secretary - Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India
Mr N K Sabharwal, Director, Cooperation for Development Bureau for Asia and the Pacific, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
Mr A E Ahmed, Joint Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India
Dr. K Anji Reddy, Chairman, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd.
Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentleman

It is indeed a pleasure for me to welcome you all to this WIPO Aisa - Pacific Regional Forum on Policy Development, Institution Building and Demystification of Intellectual Property organized by the World Intellectual Property Organization in collaboration with Institute of Intellectual Property Development, FICCI and Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India. We are really honoured by the presence of Mr. V Govindarajan, and Mr N K Sabharwal. Sir, on behalf of FICCI, I must thank your department and WIPO for collaborating with us organizing this third policy level dialogue on intellectual property rights. I hope the same would continue in the years to come.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the driving force behind economic progress in the new millennium will be the growth of knowledge-based industries. Global competitiveness has redefined business strategies worldwide and the focus has certainly shifted to examining how our knowledge resources can reposition our stand in the world market. A new emphasis is today emerging on research and development, as technological advancements become the key to sustained growth in the future. It is in this context that intellectual property and its protection has assumed greater importance. Intellectual Property has now been recognised as an important tool for technical, industrial and economic development. The knowledge skills and strengths in human resources, in a developing country like ours, make it imperative that we realize the importance of a strong IP regime. Further, providing a mechanism to inventors for protecting their intellectual property assets encourages them to share the knowledge behind their invention. Sharing of knowledge in today's context is singularly important in providing inputs to further improvements in inventions, which form the basis for competitive advantage. In this era of liberalization of economy, we should provide suitable protection for intellectual property. Intellectual Property protection is amongst most efficacious ways of building a strong economy.

The developing countries lag behind in formulating relevant laws, making difficult to protect the country's bio-diversity. We have a wealth of traditional knowledge and products lying in the public domain that need to be adequately protected. The recent basmati controversy clearly underlines the need to have stringent IP Laws. Had the geographical indication law been there, RiceTec could not have branded its rice as "basmati rice lines and grains" in the first place, as the law would have protected basmati on the basis of geographical indication, like France and Scotland did for champagne and scotch many years ago. Sir, can I appeal to you in this context, to soon frame our laws on patents and plant variety protection. These two bills have been pending before the Parliament for a long time. India is fast developing into a technology producing country, particularly in biotechnology, information technology and pharmaceuticals sector, Therefore, the protection to these sectors is an urgent need.

As globalization deepens further, it also increasingly encompasses the sharing, utilization and enjoyment of IP products like inventions, designs, books etc. Our scientific and R & D environment is going to expand particularly in the areas of information technology, pharmaceuticals, agro-chemicals and biotechnology. The industry is responding positively to TRIPS by gearing itself to increasing their R&D outlays. India with a large pool of scientific and technical manpower can certainly host effective R&D activities.

Another industry, which needs the IP protection for survival, is the Indian Entertainment Industry, which is amongst the largest in the world. It is in the clutches of piracy. Every year, millions of rupees worth revenue is lost through piracy music and films. Even though the Indian Copyright Law protects the works of artists, in the absence of effective enforcement the rights of our world-class performers are lost.

The dynamics of e-commerce and the concern to enhance competitiveness of small and medium size enterprises are adding new dimensions to IPR issues. In the post TRIPs scenario, an effective IP protection regime is an essential factor to sustain as well as promote India's achievement in the software sector.

I take great pleasure in welcoming all foreign delegates and Indian participants again to this forum and wish them a comfortable stay in New Delhi. Over the next three days, experts from the Asia-Pacific region will make their presentations on a wide range of issues relating to intellectual property such as challenges and opportunities for the developing countries in the 21st century, implementation issues, valuation of IP assets as IP as a platform for sustainable development for the new millennium. I hope that the deliberations of the Forum will lead to broad policy conclusions for policy choices in identified critical areas of intellectual property. I am sure that these will be enriching to the participants.

I wish the forum all success in this regard.

Thank you