Ashgabat hosted a two-day regional seminar on the legal and practical aspects of patent protection of pharmaceutical products. The forum was organized by the Ministry of Health and Medical Industry of Turkmenistan, the World Intellectual Property Organisation and the Eurasian Patent Organisation. Representatives of the Swiss Confederation, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Belarus, Ukraine, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Republic of Tajikistan, etc. participated in the forum. The reports on the patent protection and access to pharmaceutical products as well as the use of patents in biotechnological and pharmaceutical industry, etc. were presented during the seminar. Speaking during the forum, Turkmen experts familiarized forum participants on the key areas of the state policy in this sphere. Our country, a member of the World Intellectual Property Organisation for more than 20 years, is the first state that acceded to the Eurasian Patent Convention and has launched the new interstate unitary patent system for protection of innovations. Nowadays, Turkmenistan is a full member of this Convention and Paris Convention for the Industrial Property, Patent Cooperation Treaty, Protocol to Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Trade Mark Registration, Strasbourg Agreement Concerning the International Patent Classification, Locarno Agreement Establishing an International Classification for Industrial Designs, Nice Agreement Concerning the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks, Vienna Agreement Establishing an International Classification of the Figurative Elements of Marks. The seminar participants were familiarized with the key aspects of the Saglyk State Programme. Particular attention is paid to development of medical and pharmaceutical industry based on local raw materials. Roundtable meetings focused on the legal aspects of patent protection of pharmaceutical products were held during the forum.