General comments on the IPR programme

Follow up to the IPR of Algeria

Follow up to the IPR of Ethiopia

Follow up to the IPR of Peru

Follow up to the IPR of Ghana

Follow up to the IPR of Sri Lanka

A further IPR is being prepared for Zambia.

One expert raised the issue of applying IPR concepts to indigenous knowledge.

The Investment Policy Review (IPR) of Sri Lanka was presented on 6 October 2004.

A positive result with respect to the IPR methodology was reflected in the time needed to prepare an IPR, which had been reduced from more than two years for the first reports to an average of six to eight months.

The commentator from the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) welcomed the integration of labour market issues into the IPR and to a degree supported its policy recommendations, including the desirability of a formula to calculate labour severance payments.

In January 2005, it opened a one stop shop to facilitate establishment procedures, as recommended in the IPR.

The UNCTAD secretariat introduced the central features of the IPR, starting with the recent trends in foreign direct investment.

Several delegations thanked UNCTAD for the IPR report which was considered by many delegation as comprehensive, objective and very useful.

Furthermore, it was stressed that the UNCTAD secretariat should increase its efforts to monitor the implementation of the IPR recommendations.

The Government of Egypt had invited UNCTAD to assess the extent to which it had implemented the recommendations of the IPR.

The related notion of indigenous intellectual property rights (IPR) has arisen in attempt to conserve each society s culture base and essentially prevent ethnocide.

It was argued that, by becoming better at using their IPR regimes, developing countries would also become more interesting as partners to TNCs.

Implementing the IPR recommendations could improve Benin's capacity to attract FDI and benefit from FDI by reforming the regulatory and institutional investment framework.

It was stressed that the Invest in Peace programme should be extended to other such countries, with the assistance of UNCTAD's IPR programme.

While the political and macroeconomic stability in Benin were important factors in attracting FDI, the IPR nevertheless highlighted certain weaknesses relating to the investment framework.

The UNCTAD secretariat concluded the discussions by stressing that it would follow up on all the proposals made regarding the improvement of the IPR programme.

The secretariat informed the Commission that the IPR programme was undergoing an evaluation by a donor country, for the purpose of improving its impact and methodology.

Many speakers underlined that it was important to implement the follow up recommendations of the IPR, and the Sri Lankan Government's commitments to do so was appreciated.

It was reported that the new Government of Algeria, which had been in place since 2004, had endorsed and begun implementing all the recommendations of the IPR.

The negative balance results from the difference between payments of instalments to implementing partners in 2004 ( 220,644,090) and expenditures reported through the implementing partner recording (IPR) system ( 223,431,576).

(c) Assist integration of developing countries into the global production system, including the facilitation of cross border flows of investment and technology and improvement of their IPR regulatory framework.

The measures suggested by the IPR have been incorporated into the five year strategic plan of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), and many of them have already been implemented.

This action would include a more resolute approach to monitoring the follow up implementation process, building on the scorecard system developed for the implementation report on the IPR of Egypt.

Only after countries have accumulated sufficient indigenous capabilities with extensive science and technology infrastructure to undertake creative imitation does IPR protection become an important element in technology transfer and industrial activities.

In concluding, the Chairperson emphasized that many delegates had appreciated the commitments expressed by the Minister with regard to implementing the recommendations of the IPR and taking them fully into account in the reform process.

The IPR on Kenya was presented at a national stakeholders' workshop in Nairobi on 22 March 2005, as well as to a group of members of Parliament on 18 March 2005, and is nearing completion.

There were 11 outstanding requests for IPRs in Africa at the end of March 2005, and an IPR for Rwanda is to be initiated shortly, with IPRs for Morocco and Nigeria in the preparatory phase.

He called on the private sector to work with the Government in order to implement UNCTAD's recommendations and called on donor countries to consult with UNCTAD and UNDP to ensure effective implementation of the IPR action plan.

The Government would be following up on the implementation of the recommendations of the IPR, which related to modernizing the FDI entry regime, strengthening Board of Investment (BOI) core functions and reforming the tax regime on investment.

These are not religious issues they're human issues.

The Minister of Benin thanked delegates and the private sector for their constructive criticisms and UNCTAD for undertaking the IPR, and reiterated his Government's intention to implement the action plan with the help of UNCTAD and its partners.

Issues

A number of outstanding issues were discussed, including border issues.

These are not theoretical issues but issues of deadly urgency.

In this case, protection does not refer to blocking imports by imposing tariff barriers, but rather to shielding OSS firms by freeing them from the threat of market dominance by larger business structures, which is partly due to proprietary IPR protection.

In expected accomplishment (a), replace social issues with social development issues .

Finally, these are not women s issues, but social and economic issues.

Shall you have the male issues , and He the female issues ?

Other issues