Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Dr Kamil Idris, met in Berlin recently with officials from Germany’s Federal Government and Parliament, to discuss the promotion of awareness of intellectual property’s critical role in spurring economic growth and cultural development. Dr Idris met with Professor Dr Eckart Pick, Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Justice, to discuss WIPO initiatives, particularly the WIPO Patent Agenda, aimed at creating an intellectual property system that is more effective, fair, accessible and user-friendly. He also discussed WIPO’s recent initiative to reshape the international patent system and to reform the Patent Co-operation Treaty (PCT), a system of which German inventors are the second largest users worldwide. Among other meetings, Dr Idris discussed the importance of future co-operation to encourage developing countries to use intellectual property for economic growth and wealth creation with Dr Gunter Pleuger, State Secretary for the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and agreed on the need to enhance co-operation with national parliaments with Professor Dr Rupert Scholz, Chairman of the Parliament's Law Committee. ‘Dr Idris shared his vision of a global intellectual property strategy which underlines the value of branding not only to private enterprise but also to states through proactive use of intellectual property,’ according to a WIPO news release.