Ukraine declares its disassociation from the consensus on the approval of the budget of the WIPO External Office in russia and once again calls for its closure. Representatives of the IP Office made the statement during a meeting on the report of the Program and Budget Committee on the sidelines of the 64th series of meetings of the Assemblies of the Member States of WIPO.

In addition, the Ukrainian delegation will closely monitor the activities of this office in the future to prevent the aggressor country from using WIPO resources and global IP services to justify and support russian military aggression against Ukraine. This was emphasised by Vladyslav Bilotskyi, Deputy Director of the IP Office:

“We wish to place on record our concerns and reiterate our firm stance on the WIPO External Office in the Russian Federation, emphasizing the imperative of its closure. A country which blatantly violates WIPO principles and its statutory obligations does not deserve the privilege to host a WIPO Office.”

At the last meeting of the Program and Budget Committee, the United States proposed to reduce the non-personnel budget of the WIPO External Office in the russian federation.