Between 15 and 16 March 2012, a four-member delegation led by President Benoit Battistelli, president of the European Patent Office and European Patent Organization paid an official visit to the Republic of Macedonia and the State Office for Industrial Property. The delegation of the President was: Mr. Francois Regis Hannart, Principal Director of the European and International Co-operation, Ms Mina Nikolova - Croesus, responsible for cooperation with the Republic of Macedonia and Mr. Gilles Requena, chief of presidential office.
During the visit, they had a meeting with Mr. Vladimir Pesevski, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Macedonia in charge of Economic Affairs, Mr. Nikola Popovski, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Mr. Valon Saraqini, Minister of Economy. With this visit to the State Office of Industrial Property, as a representative of the Republic of Macedonia in this organization, a sequence of several meetings was completed.
The delegation had the opportunity to be acquainted with the activities that the state undertakes in promotion, protection, enforcement of industrial property rights, strategic documents and policies implemented by the Government, and that apply to the policy for encouraging the innovation capacity of domestic entities.
Special emphasis was placed on the cooperation between the Republic of Macedonia with the European Patent Office, particularly to the project for machine translation of patents in Macedonian language. It was concluded that it would facilitate the barriers of national economy, industry, the scientific and academic public in terms of simplified access to the technical documentation contained in patent applications and documentation that are expected to contribute to strengthening the competitiveness of the domestic economy as a whole.
This visit is a continuation of the process of the excellent cooperation of both sides while we expect intensified cooperation activities in the future.