The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation said 30 eminent intellectuals, and 200 thought-leaders, will highlight the role of intellectual property rights in the region’s economy at the upcoming Arab Strategy Forum in Dubai.

This will be the first in a series of seminars to mark the forum, a crucial platform for policy makers to network and share expertise on economic, geopolitical, social and cultural issues. It will be held on October 28 and 29.

The session titled ‘Transfer or indigenisation of knowledge' will define the second day of the event. The discussions will additionally throw light on the legislative, organizational, cultural, and material requirements for intellectual property rights.

It will specifically examine the extent of Arab contributions to the development of the international conventions on property rights, said the Al Maktoum Foundation.

To be moderated by Dr. Ziad Bin Abdullah Aldrees, Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of Saudi Arabia to Unesco, the panel will have a number of distinguished speakers.

These include Dr Abdallah Al Najar, president, Arab Science and Technology Foundation, UAE, Dr. Antoine Zahlan, author and International Consultant in Science Policy in London, UK, Dr. Nagla Rizq, Associate Professor of Economics, American University in Cairo, Egypt, and Her Excellency Dr. Maitha Salem Al Shamsi, UAE Minister of State.

Dr. Sulaiman Al Hattlan, CEO, Arab Strategy Forum, said it will provide an opportunity for Arab intellectuals to debate the need to join the mainstream and participate in the negotiations.

“In addition, the discussions will focus on the polarization of the stance on intellectual property rights between the advanced and developing countries. This will make the debate at the forum even more significant, adding fresh impetus to the diversity of opinions that will be expressed,” he added.

The elite panel of speakers will also provide definitive points of action for the Arab World and focus on why Arab countries have not made full use of the exceptions and provisions, for flexibility, in the World Trade Organisation’s Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement of 1994, which governs all countries in their dealings on intellectual property issues.

The 1994 agreement sets down minimum standards for many forms of intellectual property (IP) regulations, negotiated at the end of the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).

The TRIPS agreement introduced intellectual property law into the international trading system for the first time and remains the most comprehensive international agreement on intellectual property to date.-TradeArabia News Service