Many developing countries see intellectual property as a tool that rich countries use to exploit poorer ones. Do you share that view?

Getachew Mengistie: Some African colleagues feel that IP is an interest of the West. We see it as an advantage for developing countries. Every country has IP assets and intangible values. The difference between developing and developed countries is how they protect and exploit them. We have a vision of using IP as a tool for development. For example, we have been promoting the patent system. Not because Ethiopia develops much patentable inventions but if we have a patent system that gives us access to scientific information. In 1995 we had no patent documents in the country. Now we have a collection of 27 million documents and they include valuable technical information. We have five or six requests a day to access these documents. You may say that is insignificant but the key is how much is actually being used by people. Let me give you an example. Already we have had someone who used an old foreign patent that dealt with ways of extracting starch from maize and potatoes and applied similar techniques to extract starch from Enset [a member of the banana family]. Now he employs about 120 people and is planning to export his product to other parts of Africa and the Middle East. Imagine the impact on Ethiopia's foreign exchange. This is what we are trying to encourage in Ethiopia.