By
Sixtus Mbom in Yaoundé
The African Organisation
for Intellectual Property better known by its French acronym as OAPI has made
known its intentions to step up the protection of industrial products. The
declaration was made on September 13, 2012 in Yaounde by the director general
of the organization, Paulin Edou Edou during celebrations marking 50 years of
its independence.
Week-long activities
which began on September 8 to 13, 2012 were a window of opportunity for the 16
member states to put their heads together and come out with a better roadmap for
the intellectual property rights guarantor. With each member country
represented by their respective ministers in charge of industries, participants
converged on the unique opinion that only a careful protection of individuals’
intellectual creations could guarantee a free economy and increase the rate of
development.
It was on the sidelines
of the above and given the importance of the unique event that the prime
minister and head of government, Philemon Yang who opened and closed the
official ceremony admitted that so far the role of OAPI in the rapid
development of member countries cannot be underrated. The PM declared that the
government of Cameroon would not compromise any efforts in seeing that OAPI
meets up with its major objectives. He said the organisation’s 50 years of
existence has been marked with undisputable achievements.
During discussions
featuring the activities, it filtered out that some natural products from
Cameroon including the Oku honey from the North West region and the Penja pepper
from the Littoral region would be given exclusive attention and protection so
that no one else would be allowed to produce the same kind of products. It was
also agreed that more sensitization seminars be carried out so as to let the
populations understand that the protection of intellectual properties favours
the promotion of creativity and innovation.
Some major activities
that marked the event included football matches, seminars, press briefings,
caravan visits, exhibitions, conferences, sensitizations and a gala night.
These activities therefore enabled all representatives of the 16 member
countries which include Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African
Republic, Congo, Gabon, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mali,
Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Tchad and Togo to wear one thinking cap;
development.
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