Intellectual property protection is an area that is important in countries such as India because increasingly there are a growing number of entrepreneurs in India demanding such protection, according to Robert Hormats, United States Under Secretary for Economic, Energy, and Agricultural Affairs.
Speaking at a media briefing here, on the eve of the Paris ministerial conference and 50th anniversary celebrations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Mr. Hormats was highlighting examples of how the OECD’s research highlighted the policy challenges faced in developed countries in the past so that developing countries today may benefit from that guidance.
Responding to a question from The Hindu on whether there was a tension between having countries such as India drive global economic growth and pushing them towards excessive economic deregulation, Mr. Hormats said, “We cannot and should not go around lecturing countries on what they ought to do. “
Arguing that India and other countries had “their own internal dynamics and their own internal pressures,” Mr. Hormats however also made the case that they benefited from access to the global system and so it was important that they played a role in ensuring its success.
Touching upon a key expected outcome at next week’s ministerial event, that Russia will be joining the Anti-Bribery Working Group after progress towards acceding to the Anti-Bribery Convention, Mr. Hormats said “It is quite clear that the anti-bribery convention is a way of making sure that companies act in responsible ways, and it also enables those companies to be treated better internationally because they... themselves have subscribed to these very high practices of dealing with issues such as bribery.”
The ministerial event, slated for May 25-26, will bring together 60 to 70 ministers, including U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and 15 heads of state, including French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan.
Through such ministerial events and ongoing consultations the OECD, established in 1961 as an outgrowth of the Marshall Plan, seeks to promote economic growth and development not only in its stable of 34 advanced-economy countries but also increasingly in emerging economies such as India, China, Brazil, Indonesia and South Africa.
In the current context of the post-crisis recovery in the global economy the Paris ministerial is expected to significantly draw attention to job creation and a “new paradigm for development,” also said to be the subject of Secretary Clinton’s speech at the event.
