Arab Knowledge Report 2009: Towards Productive

while some of these nine countries becamesubject to these obligations because they arelinked to secondary free trade agreementswith developed countries, Egypt includedthem in its own national legislation for noapparent reason.Noticeable in Table 2-3 is the fact thatmost Arab countries–nine of the twelvecovered by the sample–have the rightto issue and use compulsory licensingto exploit intellectual work without theagreement of its owner, in cases thatserve the public welfare. However, thisright has not been put into actual practice,and no compulsory license has beenissued by any Arab country. However,all the Arab countries listed in the tableobtained exclusions from the agreementfor libraries and universities for scientificpurposes. This is an issue of criticalimportance which must be implementedand awareness of which must be promotedin the Arab world to foster widespreadaccess to knowledge.CHALLENGES ANDOPPORTUNITIES FORACCESS TO KNOWLEDGEThe Arab world faces a number ofchallenges in the field of protectingintellectual property rights and transmittingand providing access to knowledge. The firstchallenge lies in the absence of the subjectfrom national agendas. Here, partneringwith the global knowledge reserve andgaining access to its sources and resourcesof knowledge in important fields suchas health, education, and developmentis of particular importance. The secondchallenge is embodied in the bilateralagreements on economic cooperationand free trade with industrial countries,especially countries of the EuropeanUnion and the USA, which aim both atincreasing opportunities for products ofArab countries to penetrate these marketsand at increasing foreign investment flows.This has not actually transpired, due tothe great disparity between the resourcesof these Arab countries and the capacitiesof the developed countries. In fact, it isgenerally the opposite that happens, withall that that entails in terms of negativeeconomic and social consequences forthe Arab side.The third challenge relates to how tobenefit from the Arab knowledge product,however modest, through the provisionof adequate support, accompanied byincreased positive interaction with therich and accessible global knowledgereserve, and the beneficial deploymentof any outcomes. Finally, there must beparticipation in knowledge production ina way that moves sustainable developmentin the Arab world forward and diminishesthe sharp disparities between countriesin light of the rapid advancements intechnology. In this context, referencemust be made to the appearance of newbusiness models in the world economythat depend principally on ideas. In thesemodels, knowledge performance plays aneffective role in boosting developmentthrough knowledge production, andthe promotion of and investment inendogenous resources, rather than throughthe remittance of ever larger annualpayments to manufacturers of knowledgein the developed world.OPPORTUNITIES FORCREATIVE ARABCOOPERATIONThe Arab world, like other developingareas, suffers from a lack of competentspecialists in legal texts in the field ofintellectual property, a new field subjectto global considerations. Along withthese deficiencies come constant externalpressures, pressures that may be formidablein the case of non-compliance with thearticles of intellectual property agreementsand which are often quickly capitulatedto. This highlights the necessity forcoordination and the sharing of expertiseamong Arab countries, especially thosethat have undergone such experiences,even if the results were of limited value(Muhammad al-Sa‘id and Ahmad ‘Abd al-Arab countriessuffer from a lackof competentspecialists in legaltexts in the field ofintellectual property.This highlightsthe necessity forcoordination andthe sharing ofexpertise amongcountries thathave undergonesuch experiencesIt is possible tobegin with specificand practicalprocedural stepsto create real Arabcooperation in thefield of knowledgeby freeing upintellectual propertyARAB KNOWLEDGE PERFORMANCE ENVIRONMENTS81