TITLE: Invitation to NGO strategy meeting on TRIPS AUTHOR: Organising Committee (see below) PUBLICATION: Submitted to BIO-IPR for posting DATE: February 2001 NOTE: For information about the Oxfam International seminar on 20 March, please contact Ruth Mayne, Policy Advisor, Oxfam GB, rmayne(at)oxfam.org.uk INVITATION TO THE NGO STRATEGY MEETING ON TRIPS (21 March 2001 - Brussels, Belgium) We would like to invite you to the NGO strategy meeting on TRIPS, which is being organised on 21 March 2001 in Brussels, Belgium. The meeting will be held back-to-back with Oxfam International's seminar on Intellectual Property and Development: What future for the WTO TRIPs Agreement? The NGO strategy meeting will serve as a debriefing and follow up meeting of the seminar as well as exchange of information and co-ordinate NGO advocacy and campaigns, including the planning of an international day of action on TRIPs. The meeting is a follow-up of earlier meetings in Boston, Geneva and Berne, and aims to bring together the ever growing group of affiliates of the so-called TRIPS Action Network (TAN). The meeting will allow for discussions on development/food security as well as health, environment and human rights concerns. Part of the meeting will focus specifically on enhancing the work and co-ordination among NGOs lobbying in specific regions (e.g. the EU). The meeting will be held at the offices of 11.11.11 (formerly known as NCOS), rue de la Liniere 11, B-1060 in Brussels. Working language will be English. Funding for travel and accommodation, in particular for participants from Latin America, Asia and Africa may be available on an individual basis by way of sponsorship. Please contact one of the members of the organising committee. For more information, or to register, please contact Greg Lopez at CIDSE: CIDSE 16 rue Stévin B-1000 Brussels, Belgium Tel: (+32) 02.233.37.54 or 02.230.77.22 Fax: (+32) 02.230.70.82 Email: lopez(at)cidse.org Web: http://www.cidse.org On behlf of the Organising Committee: ActionAid (Ruchi Tripathi, Alex Wijeratna, Louise Hilditch) Berne Declaration (Francois Meienberg) CIDSE (Bob van Dillen, Gregore Lopez) IATP (Kristin Dawkins) Medecins Sans Frontieres (Ellen ?t Hoen) Oxfam GB (Ruth Mayne, George Tarvit) WWF International (Aimee Gonzales) Shefali Sharma (Biotechnology Information Project)