Mr. Director General, Honorable Chair and Vice Chair, Excellencies, delegates, and distinguished guests… Good afternoon.

I bring warm greetings from the President and People of Liberia.  As the Minister of Commerce & Industry, I am honored by the privilege of representing my country at this gathering and wish us a fruitful deliberation leading to our aligned agenda on IP development under your leadership.

Honorable Chair, Liberia aligns itself with the African position and expresses gratitude to WIPO for its unwavering support to our SMEs in the area of Intellectual Property management. For example, 30 SMEs in fields such as food processing & packaging and Fashion Design recently received training in IP management and business development. We are proud to announce that some of these SMEs have successfully secured trademarks, and the government has established a manufacturing association to further promote IP and facilitate interactions between the government and SMEs. 

Despite being a relatively new administration, we place a high priority on Intellectual Property as a catalyst for socio-economic development. With a growing youth population and a dynamic women population, Liberia is cognizant of the opportunities IP and technology provide in changing lives and fostering a sustainable development agenda vested in our people, culture, and traditions. Our trade priorities rests on adding values to our comparative advantages. Thus, we have been diligently raising awareness across the creative industries and the government. The Ministry of Commerce & Industry will ensure concrete actions across agencies and that this is mainstreamed in our national development agenda.

Looking ahead, Liberia seeks WIPO's collaboration and support in digitizing and developing our IP structure, prioritizing technology, and harnessing our rich culture beginning with comprehensive studies to quantify their impact on our economy and the broader society.

I reassure WIPO, in the coming months, the Government of Liberia will submit all outstanding WIPO and ARIPO protocols for ratification. In closing, we express our gratitude to WIPO, ARIPO, our development partners, and all member states for their efforts in enhancing Intellectual Property. Hon. Chair, delegates, while acknowledging our limitations, Liberia is eager and committed to cooperate with WIPO and member states as we collectively transition towards a knowledge-based global economy driven by Intellectual Property, technology, equity, and our inherent creative nature. 

I would be remiss at this point if I don’t commend the devoted team at the Liberian Intellectual Property Office for their able representation on our behalf here in Geneva and the diligent WIPO secretariat team that organized this forum. 

Thank you. 

Amin Modad