DUSHANBE, June 19, 2014, Asia-Plus – On Tuesday June 17, the Government of Tajikistan, represented by the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade (MoEDT), and the Government of Switzerland, represented by the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IPI), signed here a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on implementation of the Tajik-Swiss Intellectual Property (TSIP) Project.

According to the MoEDT press center, the document was inked by Sharif Rahimzoda, Minister of Economic Development and Trade of Tajikistan, Peter Mikula, Country Director of the Swiss Cooperation Office in Tajikistan, and Ueli Buri, Vice Director General of the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property.

According to information posted on IPI’s website, the Tajik-Swiss Intellectual Property (TSIP) Project is a three-year international cooperation project between the Governments of Tajikistan and Switzerland with a financial contribution by the Swiss Government of up to CHF 1,000,000.

The Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property will implement the Project on behalf of the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), as part of the SECO-funded Swiss-Tajik Trade Cooperation Program (TCP).  The key direct beneficiary and official Tajik counterpart of the Project is the National Center for Patents and Information (NCPI).

The overall goal of the TSIP Project is to strengthen intellectual property rights (IPR) protection in Tajikistan in order to contribute to higher competitiveness, more value added to Tajik products and a positive impact on Tajikistan’s socio-economic development.