Correspondence: Alberto J. Dumont, Route de l'Aéroport 10 (2nd floor), 1215 Geneva 15, Switzerland. E-mail: coquinarezo@hotmail.com

¹is the Permanent Representative of Argentina to the United Nations Office at Geneva. He is an economist and an expert in multilateral and bilateral trade negotiations and multilateral economic organisations. He is coordinator of the group 'Friends of Development' in WIPO, and is a former Secretary of Industry, Trade and Small and Medium Enterprises of the Ministry of Economy and Production, Argentina.

²is qualified with a PhD in chemistry from the University of Buenos Aires. She is a diplomat and holds position in Argentina's Permanent Mission in Geneva.

Received 28 January 2009; Revised 28 January 2009.

Abstract

During the 31st Session of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) General Assembly, which took place in September 2004, a group of countries called 'Friends of Development' co-sponsored a proposal to establish a 'Development Agenda' for WIPO. The proposal was based on the premise that development concerns should be given emphasis in all WIPO activities, so that the Organisation may comply with its United Nations mandate. After some years of in-depth discussions, a Development Agenda was adopted in 2007 by WIPO's General Assembly. The Development Agenda includes a number of issues relevant to development such us technical assistance and capacity-building; norm-setting, flexibilities, public policy and public domain; technology transfer, information and communication technologies, and access to knowledge; assessment, evaluation and impact studies; institutional matters including mandate and governance; and so on. This paper outlines the process that led to the adoption of the Development Agenda, and analyses the expected effects and challenges of its implementation.