Eastern and Southern Africa Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue On Trade, Intellectual Property And Biological Resources 
Nairobi, Kenya  30-31 July 2001

  Description

The Eastern and Southern Africa Multi-stakeholder Dialogue on Trade, Intellectual Property Protection and Biological Resources (30-31 July 2001 in Nairobi, Kenya), organised by the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICSTD), the African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS) and the Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO) aimed to strengthen the region's participation in the review of TRIPS and related international negotiations on genetic resources and traditional knowledge. Its specific goals were to: 

• Provide an opportunity for the Geneva-based African negotiators to listen to and draw from specific national and regional efforts at implementing the TRIPS Agreement. This is aimed at enlarging opportunities and capacity of Geneva-based negotiators to understand and articulate national and regional concerns; 
  

• Identify strategic approaches that the African group may wish to adopt to effectively participate in the Doha Ministerial Conference and future related negotiations on TRIPS, genetic resources and intellectual property protection; 
  

• Enhance the understanding of national policy-makers and representatives of civil society of the TRIPS processes in general and issues in the review of Article 27(3b) in particular; and 
  

• Mobilize regional and international expertise for Africa's participation in the negotiations of TRIPS review and related international agreements on genetic resources. 

The dialogue was organized and conducted as an open informal process bringing together 25 -30 key stakeholders with a variety of interests and experiences including national ministries (Environment, Health, Agriculture, Trade), intellectual property offices, academics, environment and development NGOs, indigenous people representatives, farmers, and the private sector. Discussions were guided by background papers and a number of succinct statements on key issues. Formal presentations were kept to a minimum, allowing for enough time for a frank and open debate. 

Context

Summaries of the regional dialogues on Trade, Intellectual Property and Biological Resources drafted by organisers in co-operation with participants will feed into an on-going Geneva-based process aimed at facilitating consensus building and creative thinking for the review of TRIPs. Launched in 1999, this process includes a series of seminars and informal discussions for developing country delegations to the WTO, organised by the Quakers UN Office with the support of ICTSD. The objective of these meetings is to build greater understanding among developing country negotiators on TRIPs Art. 27.3(b) - sui generis option, definition of "essentially biological processes" and other key terms, the role of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the International Undertaking on on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (IU)  - while providing space to identify common interests and positions in the review process. Legal experts who drafted national sui generis legislation and biologists served as experts in these seminars.