Ambassador Duong Chi Dung, head of Vietnam’s Permanent Mission to the UN, the WTO and other international organisations in Geneva, has been elected Chairman of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) General Assembly for 2018-2019.

Ambassador Duong Chi Dung at a meeting of the World Intellectual Property Organisation

The election was made by representatives of all 191 WIPO member countries at the WIPO General Assembly’s 49th session that opened in Geneva on October 2.

Ambassador Dung was the candidate of countries in the Asia-Pacific region, which has not had any representatives serving as Chairperson of the WIPO General Assembly for 12 years.

He said his election with the absolute support of the all 191 member countries showed their trust in and support to Vietnam. It was also the result of active contributions by the Vietnamese mission in Geneva and himself to WIPO’s activities.

He also appreciated the Vietnamese mission’s strong electioneering and the solidarity among ASEAN and Asian-Pacific nations which advocated Vietnam’s candidacy.

The country’s candidacy for and election as the Chair of the WIPO General Assembly are to continue demonstrating Vietnam’s multilateral foreign policy and being a responsible and proactive member with practical contributions to the building of policies and regulations at multilateral organisations and forums, Dung added.

The WIPO General Assembly, founded in 1967, is one of the 16 specialised agencies of the United Nations.

WIPO is the first and also the most important partner of Vietnam in terms of international cooperation in intellectual property. It has provided the country with much assistance in law making, capacity building, personnel training, and public awareness improvement.

VNA