Madam Abla Dzifa Gomashie, Minister for Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, has met the leadership of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to discuss ways of expanding support for intellectual property (IP) protection, creative capacity-building and global cultural collaboration.
The meeting was also focused on strengthening Ghana’s creative ecosystem through enhanced IP systems, improved access to global best practices and deeper cooperation between African and Caribbean creatives.
Madam Gomashie said strengthening Ghana’s IP framework was essential to safeguarding the work of local artists.
She said her 40-year journey in the creative industry underscored the urgency with which she approached her role as a political appointee.
She recounted her own struggles with recognition and IP protection as an artist, referencing her work on By the Fireside and its international presentation in 1994.
The minister said her experience fuelled her commitment to ensuring that today’s generation of creatives benefit from knowledge, protections and opportunities that were not available to her.
She said it was important to empower Ghanaian creatives to gain recognition, build capacity and access global decision-making spaces, reiterating her commitment to creating opportunities she did not have earlier in her career.
She further stressed the need for fair compensation and long-term royalties for creators across all art forms, siting internationally reproduced batik designs as instances of Ghanaian creativity often being used without appropriate credit.
Mr Daren Tang, WIPO Director General, reaffirmed the organization’s commitment to supporting Ghana’s creative economy.
He announced WIPO’s readiness to extend its work with Collective Management Organizations (CMOs) to Ghana and highlighted the WIPO for Creators – CLIP platform, which simplifies copyright processes and set to expand beyond music to other creative fields.
Mr Tang said the upcoming “World IP Place / WIPO Phase” initiative was also designed to link creatives across Africa and the Caribbean, describing Ghana as a key partner and commending the minister for her strong influence as both a policymaker and creative practitioner.
Madam Beatril Borhel, WIPO’s Director of Development Cooperation, outlined the organization’s long-term mentorship programmes for artists, game developers, app creators and other digital innovators.
She announced that the new WIPO Phase platform, set to launch in June, would provide sustained support beyond initial training, and revealed plans for a major Africa–Caribbean creative convening next year, to be hosted on the African continent.
He expressed WIPO’s readiness to deepen cooperation, enhance capacity-building efforts and further elevate Ghanaian art, culture and innovation on the global stage.
