Mr. Chairman,
Director-General of WIPO,
Distinguished Delegates,

          First of all, I am very much delighted to see you, Mr. Chairman, a fellow ASEAN colleague, presiding as Chairman of the Forty-Second Session of the WIPO General Assembly.  I also would like to thank, Dr. Kamil Idris, Director-General for his comprehensive report and clear outline of WIPO activities and the WIPO Secretariat for the excellent preparations for the Assembly.

Mr. Chairman,
          Thailand wishes to associate itself with the statement made by Indonesia, on behalf of the Asian Group and the Statement made by Singapore on behalf of ASEAN.  We believe that in today’s knowledge-driven economy, new and emerging IP issues play a significant role in national development.  In this regard, Thailand appreciates WIPO’s on-going technical assistance rendered to us.  Some notable examples include the study on the relevance of IP tools for the One Village, One Product project, outlining recommendations on how to utilize the IP system for the benefit of village producers.  Such assistance also includes legal and technical advice on accession to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) as well as the convening of the “Workshop on Traditional Culture Expressions, Genetic Resources and Traditional Knowledge: Global concerns and Thailand’s Perspectives.”

Mr. Chairman,
          Thailand recognizes that we are facing a critical and challenging time with many issues still waiting to be resolved during this General Assembly. We are concerned that there has not been much progress on the development agenda and the Substantive Patent Law Treaty (SPLT) since last year’s WIPO General Assembly.  Like many others, we hope to see the eventual mainstreaming of the development dimension into various activities of WIPO in line with the work of the United Nations aimed at fulfilling the UN Millennium Development Goals. We, therefore, call for the revival of a more structured PCDA discussion and further consideration of the possibility to establish a new permanent body to serve as a focal point for a comprehensive and holistic treatment of the development agenda.  We hope that the dialogue on this issue will proceed with a more realistic and compromise approach in order to make substantial progress at this Assembly.

Mr. Chairman,
          Within the TRIPS Council, Thailand has been a strong advocate to amend the TRIPS agreement to include the disclosure of origin of genetic resources and traditional knowledge in patent applications. In a similar fashion, we have reiterated the need to address the issue of misappropriation of genetic resources in the different WIPO committees, such as SCP and IGC, and hope to see more tangible outcomes on this issue.  In this regard, we believe that it is essential to find an inclusive workplan of the SCP, taking on board the interests and developmental levels of member states.  We also wish to commend IGC for the progress made to seek ways to better protect our traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions as a means to preserve our national identity. 

          In closing, my delegation wishes to commend the two outgoing Deputy Director-Generals, Ms. Rita Hayes and Mr. Geoffrey Yu, for their tireless efforts and dedication to the work of WIPO.  In particular, I would like to thank Mr. Geoffrey Yu for his contribution to the Asia-Pacific countries as far as IP issues are concerned.  We hope that he will continue to play an active role on IP.   Moreover, Thailand also looks forward to work closely with the new incoming Deputy Director-General and Assistant Director-General.

Thank you.