Support for Ukraine – the focus of the General Assembly of the World Intellectual Property Organization

The head of the delegation expressed solidarity with Ukraine, noting that Lithuania strongly condemns Russia's unprovoked and unjustified military aggression against Ukraine. With these actions, Russia grossly violates international law.

In his statement, the head of the delegation drew the attention of the participants of the General Assembly to the fact that Russia unilaterally adopted national legislation legitimizing violations of international agreements in the field of intellectual property, stressing out that it should not be ignored by the global intellectual property community, rather limiting the use of benefits provided by WIPO. In this respect, the allocation of WIPO funding to the external office in the Russian Federation and the legality and validity of the operation of this office itself raise serious concerns.

As regards the decision on assistance and support to Ukraine's innovation and creativity sector and the intellectual property system, adopted during the last year’s WIPO General Assembly, Lithuanian delegation commended the report presented by the Director General of WIPO on the implementation of this decision, as well as its commitment to provide further assistance and support in mitigating the detrimental impact of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.

The delegation emphasized that promotion of innovations and protection of intellectual property has always been a priority for the Lithuanian Government. A few years ago, the Government adopted the IP Development Program, which aims at boosting the creation and use of IP, preventing IP violations, and raising public awareness.

At the same time, Lithuanian delegation expressed its appreciation to WIPO for extremely close cooperation in promotion and protection of intellectual property. One of the most successful examples of international and regional cooperation in the recent years - the Baltic States Technology Transfer Centres Network (TTO) project, launched last year. It aims to strengthen cooperation between the universities of the three Baltic countries, bring together experts of knowledge and technology transfer, support innovations based on scientific and business cooperation.

The General Assembly is the highest governing body of WIPO. It addresses key issues in the organization's governance, legislation, planning and budget.

The 64th session of the WIPO General Assembly takes place in Geneva from 6 to 14 July 2023. The delegation of the Republic of Lithuania consists of representatives from the Ministry of Culture, the State Patent Bureau and the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Lithuania to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Geneva.