The African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) is an intergovernmental organization which was established in order to pool the resources of its Member States in intellectual property matters in order to avoid duplication of financial and human resources. The cooperation in intellectual property is intended to achieve technological advancement for the economic and industrial development of the member states. The objectives of the organization include:

b) To foster the establishment of a close relationship between its members in matters relating to industrial property.

ARIPO has nineteen (19) Member States which are party to the Lusaka Agreement. The member states are: Botswana, The Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Somalia, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. ARIPO's mandate includes cooperation with non-member States and, in line with this, ARIPO has cooperated with the following potential member states which have observer status in the meetings of its main organs: Angola, Algeria, Burundi, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Libya, Mauritius, Nigeria, Seychelles, South Africa and Tunisia.

The organization is comprised of the Secretariat, whose headquarters are in Harare, Zimbabwe, and which is responsible for the day to day operations in the implementation of its various protocols, and two main governing bodies: the Administrative Council, which is comprised of heads of the various national intellectual property offices, and the Council of Ministers comprising Ministers responsible for intellectual property matters in the various Member States. The two organs meet annually and biennially respectively.