DEMARCHE ON ANTI-COUNTERFEITING TRADE AGREEMENT

UNCLAS RABAT 002158 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT PLEASE PASS USTR FOR STAN MCCOY AND RACHEL BAE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON ETRD KIPR PGOV MO SUBJECT: DEMARCHE ON ANTI-COUNTERFEITING TRADE AGREEMENT REF: STATE 182554 ¶1. (SBU) Econ Counselor raised reftel demarche last week in separate meetings with Houda Marrakchi, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Abdallah Ouadghiri, Director of the Moroccan Copyrights Office (BMDA),and Aziz Bouazzaoui, Director of the Moroccan Office of Industrial and Commercial Property (OMPIC). All expressed interest in the proposal, though they had questions regarding how it would relate to Morocco's existing obligations under its bilateral free trade agreements. Marrakchi committed to circulate the text of the concept paper to members of the GOM's inter-ministerial working group on IPR issues, which includes the Ministry of Communications, Justice Ministry, BMDA and OMPIC. ¶2. (SBU) Comment: Inter-ministerial coordination on the question will likely take some time, and it is doubtful we will receive a detailed reaction by the envisioned December date for an intial meeting of interested countries. We will continue to push the concept in our meetings with IPR contacts, however. End Comment. ****************************************** Visit Embassy Rabats Classified Website; http://www.state.sgov.gov//nea/rabat ***************************************** Riley