he First WIPO Inter-regional Meeting on intellectual property (IP) Governance; Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (GRTKF); and copyright and Related Rights will represent a forum to deliberate on the challenges and opportunities on issues related to IP Governance; GRTKF; and copyright and Related Rights in developing countries and LDCs at the national, regional and international levels. It intends to enhance the capacity of policy-makers to take decisions on the above mentioned subjects and to discuss different policy options and their potential impact on development policies. The meeting will also discuss the recent global developments in those fields of IP and facilitate knowledge sharing and dissemination of best practices and experiences among developing countries and LDCs.

Main topics

IP governance: the discussions will focus on promoting synergies between IP governance and South-South cooperation on IP and development, and on IP as a tool in addressing main challenges of global knowledge governance in the areas of climate change, food security, internet, innovation and public health.
GRTKF: the Meeting will address national experiences in the protection of traditional knowledge, traditional cultural expressions and genetic resources, and will discuss how to facilitate international cooperation, in particular South-South cooperation, in using the IP system for the protection of GRTKF.
copyright and related rights: the Meeting will discuss the international protection of audiovisual works, performances, and broadcasting organizations. It will also address national experiences and South-South cooperation in the field of copyright limitations and exceptions for libraries, archives, educational and research institutions and for visually impaired persons. Finally, it will discuss how to strike the right balance in developing countries when it comes to copyright and related rights and the preservation of the public Domain, and provide international and regional perspectives on the challenges of the creative industries and on the collective management of copyright and related rights in the digital environment.
The Meeting is open to policy makers, government officials and representatives of IP Offices from developing countries, LDCs and other interested members, as well as regional and international governmental organizations of developing countries and LDCs, and will involve experts from the regions.