substantive discussion, to my surprise
Discussion on proposals has begun
“The idea [of a Development Agenda for WIPO] is horrible, but luckily it’s starting to fray”, said one of the German delegates to the IIM. Not only does this not exactly make me proud of my country’ s position on this; it is also simply wrong. As during the last IIMs, the Group of Friends of Development is holding firm.
The discussion has gotten quite substantive, with few surprises so far. This is probably due to the fact that it has begun with three points that are contested, but not overly conflictive: Amending the WIPO convention to include language on development; setting up an independent evaluation and research office (WERO); and increasing Civil Society participation.
The question about the WIPO convention is basically if there should be an explicit reference to WIPO’s development mission. The Friends of Development are in favor of this, while many others are sceptical; they purport that the convention in its present form allows WIPO to do everything necessary for Development.
The question of an evaluation office involves money, so it is somewhat more contested. Most other UN bodies have some sort of internal audit, while “WIPO does not have an evaluation culture”, as one delegate told me. So the question is not so much if there should be evaluation, but how.
The call for a wider participation of Civil Society has sparked statements valueing their input and advice, but there seems to be a consensus that they should not get any voting rights (which is hardly surprising, considering that WIPO is an intergovernmental body.
The EU is trying to find a common position, but it has not had excessive success in that matter. The statements they have made are not really decisive.
Tomorrow should be more interesting, when the harder issues come up. This might be such things as having principles and guidelines for technical assistance. As this will actually have an effect in the real world, the discussion is sure to heat up.
Now the meeting is being closed. Time to post this entry and then go for dinner and a beer.