President of the Eurasian Patent Office (EAPO) Saule Tlevlessova and Director General of the African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI) Denis Bohoussou met in Geneva on October 3, 2019.

OAPI Director General congratulated the Eurasian Patent Organization on the successful results of the Diplomatic Conference on the Adoption of the Protocol on the Protection of Industrial Designs to the Eurasian Patent Convention, welcomed the regional initiative on the launch of the Eurasian industrial design protection and new opportunities for cooperation in this regard.

Denis Bohoussou informed about the current OAPI activities, as well as about the entry into force in June 2019 of the Agreement Establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). The launch of this Agreement gives, among others, a new impulse to the growth of interest in IP rights protection and contributes to the more efficient provision of such protection, as reflected in OAPI statistics for the previous months of 2019.

EAPO President Saule Tlevlessova, in turn, shared examples and pointed out the prospects of integration in the Eurasian region.

During the meeting, the heads of EAPO and OAPI discussed the main areas of bilateral cooperation, noted the importance of partnership relations, taking into account the regional character of the two Organizations, and expressed readiness to continue the dialogue by signing the Memorandum of Understanding on bilateral cooperation.