Innovative enterprises in Central Asia will soon benefit from a new IP cooperation between Singapore and the Republic of Kazakhstan. On September 10, the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) signed a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Astana Financial Services Authority (AFSA) and the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) of the Republic of Kazakhstan to bridge the innovation ecosystems of both countries.
The MOU establishes a framework for cooperation between IPOS, AFSA and MoJ to promote innovation and facilitate the development of a comprehensive IP ecosystem within the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC).
Singapore and Kazakhstan signed a bilateral investment treaty in November last year to protect the interests of investors from both countries and provide them with greater assurance to capitalise on investment opportunities. Today’s MOU will further strengthen the economic linkage and innovation flows between the two economies, allowing innovative enterprises from anywhere in the world to use Singapore and Kazakhstan as gateways to access high growth markets in ASEAN and the Central Asia region.
When the FTA concludes, Singapore and Kazakh businesses will enjoy better access to each other’s markets across many sectors and benefit from increased confidence in the protection of their IP rights.
The AIFC, launched in July 2018, aims to serve as a financial hub for Central Asia, the Caucasus, Eurasian Economic Union, Middle East, Western China, Mongolia and Europe.
Source: IPOS
