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HAILAND: The Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN) and the European Commission (EC) signed Wednesday a financing agreement on capacity building for a strengthened intellectual property rights (IPR) regime in the region.

The 5.1 million euro program, to which the EC provided 4.5 million euro, will be implemented by the European Patent Office over a four-year period, according to a release issued here by the ASEAN Secretariat.

"This is an important piece of the jigsaw to lay the foundation for the protection of IPR in the region," ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan said Wednesday at the signing ceremony in Bangkok.

Also attending the signing were Thai Deputy Commerce Minister Alongkorn Ponlaboot and EC Ambassador to Thailand David Lipmann.

The program, aimed at enhancing regional integration by strengthening institutional capacity and legal and administrative frameworks for protecting IPR, will be implemented by a project team based in Bangkok and hosted by the Thai Department of Intellectual Property under the Ministry of Commerce.

The implementation of the program is expected to help integrate the region into the global economy in line with the commitments made by ASEAN member states under the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights.