WTO20-1

The Workshop builds upon a past series of workshops that have been convened annually in conjunction with sessions of the TRIPS Council aimed at strengthening cooperation in this area, and aims to chart ways forward to enhance future dialogue, cooperation and effective use of transparency tools. The activity comprises two integrated sessions: two days of workshop sessions on 4 – 5 February and attendance and reporting under the agenda item "Follow-up to the Seventeenth Annual Review under Paragraph 2 of the Decision on the Implementation of Article 66.2 of the TRIPS Agreement".

The workshop segments on 4 – 5 February include presentations by WTO trainers as well as partner institutions and regional organizations on technology transfer to LDCs. Additionally, LDC participants are required to deliver presentations on their priority needs for technological development, related technology transfer projects and their experience with projects discussed in the reports from developed country Members on the implementation of TRIPS Article 66.2 (incentives to transfer technology to LDCs). Further, capital-based delegates from developed country Members will discuss their 2019 reports.

The second session is the LDC participants' attendance and reporting to the TRIPS Council, in particular, under the agenda item designated for discussing the implementation of TRIPS Article 66.2. Selected LDC participants will take part in their country's statement to the TRIPS Council on feedback, reflection and any follow-up questions flowing from the Workshop. Selected LDC participants who deal directly with technology transfer projects in their country, and having benefited from an in-depth dialogue with developed country Members and other LDC participants during the Workshop, are ideally placed to enlighten developed country stakeholders and the wider Membership on how coordination between LDCs and their cooperation partners operates and how it can improve.