The WIPO's Coordination Committee nominated Mr. Daren Tang, who is currently serving as Chief Executive of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS), to the post of WIPO’s Director General for the term from 2020 to 2026. Taking this opportunity, the leaderships of MOST and IP Viet Nam had sent letters to Mr. Daren Tang to express their congratulations and expectation that the cooperation ties on intellectual property between Viet Nam and WIPO as well as Viet Nam and Singapore will continue to develop sustainably and fruitfully in coming times.
Minister of Science and Technology Chu Ngoc Anh delivered speeches on behalf of ASEAN and Viet Nam at the opening session of 59th meetings of WIPO’s General Assemblies (courtesy of MOST)
An extraordinary session of the Coordination Committee was held on March 04-05, 2020 in Geneva, Switzerland, with the attendance of delegates from its 83 member states, including Viet Nam. In this session, following rounds of voting, the Coordination Committee nominated a candidate for appointment to the post of the WIPO’s Director General for the term from 2020 to 2026 after the term of Mr. Francis Gurry as Director General ends by September 2020. According to the voting results, the Coordination Committee will nominate Mr. Daren Tang to be appointed as the WIPO's Director General by the General Assembly.
After the voting results at the Coordination Committee’s session announced, the leaderships of MOST and IP Viet Nam had sent letters of congratulation to Mr. Daren Tang, expressing their belief that during his tenure as WIPO’s Director General, Mr. Tang will continue to build a balanced global intellectual property system that benefits all members, contributing to the worldwide socio-economic development. The letters also emphasize expectation from leaderships of MOST and IP Viet Nam that the cooperation ties on intellectual property between Viet Nam and WIPO as well as between Viet Nam and Singapore will be continuously enhanced sustainably and fruitfully in coming times.
Mr. Daren Tang has been serving as the Chief Executive of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) since 2015. He is considered as a young leader, who is cited with breadth of experiences in governing IPOS and in negotiating several free trade agreements. He also served as the Chair of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR). He is expected to bridge the North-South cooperation in WIPO as having support from both developed and developing countries.
Since joining WIPO in 1976, Viet Nam has gained considerable technical assistances provided by WIPO to build and develop its national intellectual property system. Significant outcomes of the cooperation between two Sides include WIPO’s support and collaboration in developing the National Intellectual Property Strategy of Viet Nam to 2030, improving the Global Innovation Index’s ranking of Viet Nam, providing consultation in studying and joining the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), the Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks (Madrid Protocol), Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs, as well as implementing the WIPO IPAS project, EIE project and other activities.
In addition to the close bilateral cooperation, Viet Nam has also proved active engagement in organizational and operational issues of WIPO and international intellectual property treaties governed by WIPO. Viet Nam is currently the member of 10 Governing Bodies/Permanent Committees, Working Groups of WIPO and 11 treaties on intellectual property governed by WIPO. Recently, Viet Nam has also gained appreciation and trust by member states to assume chairmanship of the Coordination Committee on 2014 and the chairmanship of the General Assembly for the term 2018-2019.
IP Viet Nam’s DG Dinh Huu Phi, IPOS’s Chief Executive Daren Tang, Ambassador Duong Chi Dung, Ambassador Tan Hung Seng at the Signing Ceremony of Bilateral Cooperation Plan 2020 between IP Viet Nam and IPOS, on August 28, 2019, in Singapore
Viet Nam has had a fruitful cooperation in intellectual property with Singapore in recent times. In the framework of multilateral cooperation, Singapore and Viet Nam are both members of the ASEAN Working Group on Intellectual Property Cooperation (AWGIPC), actively participating in the implementation of activities under the Action Plan on Intellectual Property of ASEAN 2016-2025.
The bilateral cooperation between two Sides is materialized by the Memorandum on Cooperation between the IP Viet Nam and IPOS signed in 2014, focusing on activities to strengthen capacity in administrating the Intellectual Property Office, to enhance the commercialization of intellectual property assets, to develop human resources, to raise public awareness and to exchange information. Additionally, two Offices have also expressed several times their mutual support at international forums, namely: IPOS supported Vietnam's candidacy to chair the WIPO General Assembly for the term of 2018-2019; IP Viet Nam also supported IPOS to become the International Searching Authority (ISA) and the International Preliminary Examination Authority (IPEA) under the PCT system since 2015 and supported Singapore’s candidacy to chair the WIPO's SCCR for the term of 2018-2019.
With bright spots in bilateral cooperation on intellectual property between Viet Nam and WIPO and between Viet Nam and Singapore as well, the leadership of MOST and the leadership of IP Viet Nam are convinced that Mr. Daren Tang, during his tenure as WIPO’s Director General, will extend technical assistance projects provided by WIPO to Viet Nam to enhance the national intellectual property system’s capacity. Additionally, the cooperation activities between Viet Nam and Singapore in sharing experiences on capacity building, promoting innovation, commercialization of intellectual property assets are also expected to be strengthened in coming times./.