US embassy cable - 05CAIRO2737

UNCLAS CAIRO 002737 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETRD, KIPR, EG, WIPO, EIAD 
SUBJECT: EGYPT:  DEMARCHE ON WIPO IPR AND DEVELOPMENT 
SESSION DELIVERED 
 
REF: STATE 56991 
 
1.  Post delivered reftel demarche to senior-level officials 
in the following ministries and agencies responsible for 
intellectual property rights (IPR) protection and policy: 
Ministry of Foreign Trade and Industry; Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs; Ministry of Culture; Ministry of Communications and 
Information Technology; and the Academy of Scientific 
Research. 
 
2.  The following response was received on April 7 from Ghada 
Howaidy, Director of International Relations at the Ministry 
of Communications and Information Technology. 
 
3.  Begin text of response. 
 
I would like to thank you for sharing with the Ministry the 
U.S. views on the special session of the World Intellectual 
Property Organization (WIPO), which is scheduled from April 
11 to 13.  We have forwarded these  views to the Information 
Technology Industry Development Authority (ITIDA), the 
Ministry-affiliated authority concerned with IPR.  Although 
ITIDA noted that they are lacking all background documents 
and agenda of this meeting, they thoroughly reviewed the U.S. 
views shared with the Ministry and responded as follows: 
 
- ITIDA agrees with the U.S. views concerning the WIPO. 
- The U.N. system with the current WIPO legal framework, and 
the existing WIPO bodies should be sufficient to address 
IPR-related development issues. 
- Attention and work should focus on mobilizing the existing 
Permanent Committee for Intellectual Property and Development 
in order to handle its responsibilities. 
ITIDA would like to get information and support on how to be 
a member of the Permanent Committee for Intellectual Property 
and Development. 
 
Again, I would like to thank you for sharing this document 
with us and we hope for a continued cooperation between Egypt 
and the U.S. Government in this area. 
 
4.  End text of response. 
 
5.  Comment:  As noted above, the demarche was delivered to 
various government entities involved in IPR protection.  The 
views of the Ministry of Communications and Information 
Technology do not represent the views of the entire Egyptian 
Government.  We expect there will be differences of opinion 
among the various agencies and will report on any additional 
responses.  End comment. 
 
 
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GRAY