Seminar on Regional Integration, Counterfitting and Intellectual Property
Amasson Kingi Jeffah , Kenyan Minister for the East African Community
Service Presse - Nairobi
- On: 08.10.2008
- In: Nairobi (Kenya)
Under the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the Economic Mission in Nairobi in partnership with the European Commission delegation, organised a seminar on regional integration, counterfitting and intellectual property on 8 October.
This conference brought together more than 120 representatives from the Kenyan business community and locally-established European firms, at which the event was targeted.
The aim of the first part of the conference was to assess in collaboration with the Kenyan business community the progress of and challenges to regional integration in business terms. Several leading figures spoke on this issue including Amason Kingi Jeffah, Kenyan Minister for the East African Community (EAC), Cyrus Njiru, EAC Permanent Secretary for Trade, Peter N. Kiguta, Director General of Customs and Trade, Eric van der Linden, Head of the European Commission's delegation to Kenya, and Manu Chandaria, Chairman of the Comcraft Group.
The second half of the conference looked at the issue of counterfitting and intellectual property; a draft law on counterfitting is currently on its second reading in the Kenyan parliament. The speakers included Shakeel A. Shabbir, representative of the parliamentary committee on finance, James Otieno Odek, director of the Kenyan industrial property institute, and a representative of the Kenyan Manufacturer Association. Two companies - GSK, a British pharmaceutical company, and Power Technics, a Kenyan firm under licence from Schneider - also gave their own evaluations of the problem.
- Updated: 23.12.2008
