India has pitched for reviving negotiations at World Trade Organization on issues related to prevention of theft of traditional knowledge such as Ayurveda, Yoga and naturopathy.

Joint Secretary in the Department of Commerce, Sudhanshu Pandey told reporters in New Delhi today that it is organising an international conference on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, TRIPs-Convention on Biological Diversity, CBD linkage in Geneva on 7th and 8th of June, to re-focus talks on the subject. Mr Pandey said, the conference will witness participation from various countries such as Brazil, China, Indonesia, Peru, Philippines and New Zealand.

Traditional knowledge, a kind of intellectual property, is something passed on from generation to generation within a community. It often forms part of a people's cultural and spiritual identity.

Mr Pandey said, being an important issue, the WTO members should deliberate upon this matter. He said, TRIPS-CBD Linkage is important for India and other developing countries because it seeks to address bio-piracy. He added, it has been a long standing demand that patents should not be granted for existing traditional knowledge and associated genetic resources.

The issue assumes significance as India wants an effective legal international regime to stop misappropriation and reckless patenting of traditional knowledge like healing properties of neem and turmeric.

The CBD is a multilateral agreement on sustainable development and fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resource.

Preventing theft would help in giving global protection against patenting or commercial exploitation of traditional knowledge base of developing countries like India.

According to a report, domestic trade of Ayush industry in India is about 1.2 billion US dollars. The world trade in herbal products are at 120 billion US dollars and is expected to touch around 7 trillion US dollars by 2050.