Samoa is the only country in the region to participate in a branding bureau training programme supported by the World Intellectual Property Organisation.

The Ministry of Commerce Industry and Labour [M.C.I.L.] advised in a statement recently that a total of 15 staff under the trade commerce and manufacturing sector, industry development and investment proportion and the Registry of Companies and Intellectual Properties divisions participated in the training.

The national implementation of the Enhancement of Innovation and IP Environment Project [E.I.E.] also coincided with the training of the 15 M.C.I.L. staff members.

The E.I.E. Project is a collaboration between the Samoa Government and the W.I.P.O. and is funded by the South Korea government.

Samoa is the only country in the region to be part of the initiative with the other participating nations from Asia being Bhutan, Cambodia, Laos, Iran, and Mongolia. The training commenced May 29 and was completed July 9.

The main goal of the project is to establish a National Branding Bureau to assist small and medium enterprises in the creation and building of the brands for their goods and services.

The current work of the M.C.I.L. divisions that underwent training are to address the duties and functions expected from a branding bureau with a major role to be played by R.C.I.P. responsible with the registration of trademarks, designs and geographical indications.

The duration of the project is five years and with the major pieces in place with much needed support from the S.M.E., implementation should be completed before the end of five years.

Now that the internal staff has successfully completed their training, the Ministry added that training for the country’s private sector partners will commence shortly.