The Association of Southeast Asia Nations ASEAN and the European Commission EC signed Wednesday a financing agreement on capacity building for a strengthened intellectual property rights IPR regime in the region.The 5.1 million euro program, to which the EC provided 4.5 million euro, will be implemented by the European Patent Office over a four-year period, according to a release issued here by the ASEAN Secretariat.

“This is an important piece of the jigsaw to lay the foundation for the protection of IPR in the region,” ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan said Wednesday at the signing ceremony in Bangkok.Also attending the signing were Thai Deputy Commerce Minister Alongkorn Ponlaboot and EC Ambassador to Thailand David Lipmann.

The program, aimed at enhancing regional integration by strengthening institutional capacity and legal and administrative frameworks for protecting IPR, will be implemented by a project team based in Bangkok and hosted by the Thai Department of Intellectual Property under the Ministry of Commerce.