The Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China in Chisinau Zhang Yinghong and the Head of Policy Service of the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Republic of Moldova Jiang Mingzheng paid a working visit to the State Agency on Intellectual Property (AGEPI).

The visit of the Chinese delegation aimed at acquainting with the national system of protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPR), as well as extending the areas of cooperation, especially on the topics of priority interest to both countries.

An exchange of information on AGEPI activities was made during the bilateral meeting of the Chinese delegation with the leadership of AGEPI, oriented towards ensuring a high level of the quality of services provided to the applicants for the titles of protection on intellectual property objects; the role of the intellectual property office in disseminating knowledge and informing the society about the need to respect IP rights and the role of IP in economic development, etc.

AGEPI Interim Director General Andrei Popa mentioned the Agency’s interest in strengthening cooperation relations with the People’s Republic of China, also considering that China holds world leadership in filing applications for the protection of inventions, with over 1.38 million of patent applications filed out of a total of 3.17 million applications filed internationally.

The high Chinese official thanked the Moldovan party for the hospitality and openness with which the Chinese delegation is treated and reiterated the interest of the People’s Republic of China in expanding the areas of cooperation, especially on topics of priority interest to both countries, such as the use of artificial intelligence in the procedures of examination of application for the protection of intellectual property objects, strengthening the IPR enforcement mechanisms, and also developing strategic documents aimed at long-term development of intellectual property system under the new challenges of the modern world such as globalization and digitalization.

We should remind that on October 15, 2019, the State Agency on Intellectual Property signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the National Intellectual Property Administration of the People’s Republic of China (CNIPA). This Memorandum of Understanding aims to strengthen the bilateral relations between the Republic of Moldova and the People’s Republic of China in the field of intellectual property and to contribute to the creation of a strategic partnership between the two specialized institutions.