n Hanoi, on June 19, the Vietnam’s Ministry of Science and Technology and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) inked the record of discussion for the project for strengthening the enforcement of intellectual property rights. This marks the third project in the field of intellectual property that the Government of Japan has granted to Vietnam.

This marks the third project in the field of intellectual property that the Government of Japan has granted to Vietnam. The newly-signed project focuses on three main areas: supporting capacity enhancement of the National Office of Intellectual Property (NOIP) and of enforcement authorities of intellectual property in Vietnam; strengthening the coordination between NOIP and the other enforcement authorities, including the establishment of information gathering and sharing systems between NOIP and the enforcement authorities; and enhancing public awareness on intellectual property. The project comes out at a time that the intellectual property rights Law has not been implemented properly due to the lack of capacity and coordination among stakeholders. The issue of intellectual property rights protection has become more crucial as Vietnam is accelerating the shifting from its current growth model of investment-led growth to knowledge-based economy, particularly after Vietnam joined WTO. “It is getting more and more difficult to adequately and timely protect intellectual property rights in Vietnam due to the increased volume of trade and complexity in business areas. We believe that this project will contribute addressing the issues of intellectual property rights for creating better environment for business and investment in Vietnam”, said Mr. Motonori Tsuno, Chief Representative of JICA Vietnam Office. At the same time, Japan-Vietnam Joint Initiative and Vietnam-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement list the protection of intellectual property rights as priority. Earlier, the NOIP and JICA have cooperated in two projects: modernization of industrial property administration in period of 2000-2004 and utilization of intellectual property information until March 2009./.