Mr. Shen Changyu, Commissioner of CNIPA, talked with Mr. Fernando dos Santos, Director General of ARIPO

On April 12, 2019 (local time), Mr. Shen Changyu, Commissioner of China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), led a delegation to visit African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) headquartered at Harare of Zimbabwe. He talked with Mr. Fernando dos Santos, Director General of ARIPO, about high-level reciprocal visits, personnel training, application of cloud patent examination system, examination sharing, data exchange and other fields.

According to Mr. Shen, CNIPA pays high attention to the cooperation with African countries in intellectual property and ARIPO is playing an important role in promoting the coordination and development of intellectual property undertaking in Africa. Since the two sides signed the cooperation agreement in 2007, bilateral cooperation has achieved smooth progress, with frequent high-level reciprocal visits and exchanges. And both sides have carried out fruitful exchanges and cooperation in personnel training and literature exchange. The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and the building of “Belt and Road” have brought historical opportunities for the cooperation of the two sides. He hoped that both sides could continue to strengthen exchange and cooperation in high-level reciprocal visits, personnel training, application of cloud patent examination system, examination sharing, data exchange and other fields, in order to achieve more substantive achievements in intellectual property cooperation and a win-win situation.

Mr. Fernando dos Santos warmly welcomed Mr. Shen for his first visit to ARIPO. CNIPA is one of the most partners of ARIPO, and over the years, China has provided valuable experience and assistance for the development of intellectual property in Africa, and the African side expressed its sincere thanks for that. Mr. Fernando  dos Santos recognized Mr. Shen’s proposal on future cooperation between the two sides and said that ARIPO was willing to join hands with CNIPA to strengthen mutual understanding, deepen pragmatic cooperation and promote the development of intellectual property undertakings of both China and Africa to a higher level.

During the visit, Mr. Shen and his delegation also visited the ARIPO’s Headquarters and learnt about its personnel organizational structure and examination workflow. He also introduced the latest development of China’s intellectual property work and the cooperation situation between CNIPA and ARIPO to the staff of ARIPO. Chen Ning from the Economic and Commercial Counsellor’s Office of the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Republic of Zimbabwe accompanied.

Mr. Shen also met Mr. Guo Shaochun, Chinese ambassador to Zimbabwe, and exchanged views on China-Africa cooperation in intellectual property. (Translated from CNIPA Website Chinese Version)