DAY 1 of the 13th Regional Conference on combating counterfeiting & Intellectual Property Crimes in the Middle East and North Africa.

Several topics were discussed that include:

- Technology group is an initiatives of #INTERPOL and was established to bring law enforcement to use emergent technologies and teach them how to curb the use of wrongdoers.

- ⁠The audience was reminded that the violation of IP is considered organised crime that requires international cooperation, and the efforts being made by the #IP and enforcement community in the region to combat such crime was acknowledged.

- ⁠Cooperation between the public and private sector is important in combatting sophisticated counterfeiting operations. Conventional methods of detection and investigation are not sufficient in keeping up with the ever evolving operations of the criminals.

- It was observed that in according to recent statistics, the trading value of illicit counterfeit goods is higher than trading in illegal drugs. A very alarming fact.

Hoda Barakat Munir Suboh Bassel El Turk Mark Devaney Nicole Giblin Malek HANNOUF Hady KHAWAND Amjad El Husseini Ishraga Abutaha Rasha ABOUJEIB Mohannad Barbarawi Amr Eldakak Mona Saleh Motasem Abu Ghazaleh