Arab Knowledge Report 2009: Towards Productive

The current state ofknowledge-enablingenvironments asviewed from theangle of freedomsin the Arab world isnot one to stimulatethe advancementof Arab knowledgeperformanceKnowledge isan integral,homogenous wholein its essentialcategories andcomponents,influenced bythe elementsof the enablingenvironmentsand the clusterof freedomsLatif, background paper for the Report, inArabic).It is possible to begin with specificand practical procedural steps to createreal Arab cooperation in the field ofknowledge. For example, one couldprovide latitude for the strengthening ofthe Arab knowledge reserve by freeingup intellectual property, in emulationof other countries that have realisedthe importance of providing latitudefor freedom to produce and implementknowledge, with all the positive effectsthis has had on development. This strategyrequires that government, the privatesector, and civil society organisationsparticipate in the formulation of policiesand practical programmes. It also requiresthe existence of a wise and seriousleadership at all levels able to implementthese policies and present new initiatives.In this context, the maximum degree ofcoordination and cooperation betweenArab countries would have to be realisedin order to agree on united stances inthe face of whatever issues might arisewith regard to intellectual property onthe world stage. An exchange of legalexpertise to review many of the lawsthat some Arab countries have issuedwithout benefiting from the allowancesand flexibilities for which internationalagreements provide would also beneeded.These efforts would not begin fromscratch, given that, in fact, there arealready examples of Arab cooperation inthe field of intellectual property, such asthe Arab Agreement for Copyright (1981,then 2002), and the special legislation onprotecting author’s rights and associatedrights (1998). Cooperation amongmembers of the Gulf Cooperation Councilin the field of patent law is considered asuccessful example of Arab legislativecoordination; through this, a single systemfor patenting was applied from 1998,and modified in 2002. This system givesautomatic protection in the six memberstates of the Gulf Cooperation Councilwithout the patent having to be registeredin each of the states separately. TheUnified Gulf Patent Office in Riyadh takesan active role in the process of examining,registering, and protecting the patents.SUMMARY: FREEDOMS: ACOMPREHENSIVE CLUSTEROR DISPARATE ELEMENTS?It can be said that the current state ofknowledge-enabling environments asviewed from the angle of freedoms inthe Arab world is not one to stimulatethe advancement of Arab knowledgeperformance. The picture looks bleakwhen one compares freedoms in the Arabworld to those in other regions. However,while this characterization is accurate, thesituation with regard to Arab enablingenvironments varies considerably fromone country to another and conflictingpictures sometimes emerge. Caution,therefore, is called for in makingjudgments and generalizing results, evenwhen defining the relationship betweenknowledge performance and the enablingenvironment in any given country.Performance also varies considerably fromone year to another, as the internationalreports show. While a particular Arabcountry may lead in economic freedomsand occupy an outstanding position in oneof the pivotal knowledge performancecategories, it may record in the same yeara slump on the front of political andintellectual freedoms. This will inhibitthe pivotal category of innovation that isso closely tied to the abundant supply ofintellectual freedom (see Chapter 6).This phenomenon may be explainedby the fact that knowledge is an integral,homogenous whole in its essentialcategories and components, and influencedas a single entity by the elements of theenabling environments and the clusterof freedoms. Knowledge, after all, is aharvest of different kinds of informationacquired from a number of sources,such as education, scientific research,media and publication, economic activity,cultural heritage, historical wisdom,82 ARAB KNOWLEDGE REPORT 2009