Daren Tang, Director General of WIPO, Attended the Opening Ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2021 and Delivered a Video Speech

April 23, 2021

The Opening Ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2021 was held in Boao on April 20th. Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a keynote speech via video at the Ceremony.

Xi pointed out that the BFA has borne witness to the extraordinary journey of China, of Asia and of the world since its establishment for 20 years, and has exerted a significant influence in boosting development in Asia and beyond. Now, the combined forces of changes and a pandemic both unseen in a century have brought the world into a phase of fluidity and transformation. Instability and uncertainty are clearly on the rise. Humanity is facing growing governance deficit, trust deficit, development deficit, and peace deficit. Much remains to be done to achieve universal security and common development. That said, there is no fundamental change in the trend toward a multi-polar world; economic globalization is showing renewed resilience; and the call for upholding multilateralism and enhancing communication and coordination has grown stronger. While we live in an age rife with challenges, it is also an age full of hope.

China will bear in mind the shared interests of mankind and make responsible and wise choices. China calls on all countries in Asia and beyond to answer the call of our times:

• We need consultation on an equal footing to create a future of shared benefits.
• We need openness and innovation to create a future of development and prosperity.
• We need solidarity and cooperation to create a future of health and security.
• We need commitment to justice to create a future of mutual respect and mutual learning.

Xi stressed that China will continue to work with other parties in high-quality Belt and Road cooperation. China will follow the principles of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, and champion the philosophy of open, green and clean cooperation, in a bid to make Belt and Road cooperation high-standard, people-centered and sustainable.  China will build a closer partnership for health cooperation, a closer partnership for connectivity, a closer partnership for green development and a closer partnership for openness and inclusiveness.

China will continue to play its part in building world peace, promoting global development, and defending international order. China will stay committed to peace, development, cooperation and mutual benefit, develop friendship and cooperation with other countries on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, and promote a new type of international relations. China will take an active part in multilateral cooperation on trade and investment, fully implement the Foreign Investment Law and its supporting rules and regulations, cut further the negative list on foreign investment, continue to develop the Hainan Free Trade Port, and develop new systems for a higher-standard open economy. All are welcome to share in the vast opportunities of the Chinese market.

Mr. Daren Tang, Director General of World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), was invited to attend the Ceremony and deliver a video speech. His speech is as follow,

It is my honor to address you at the Opening Plenary of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2021.

Since its establishment 20 years ago, the BFA has become one of the key events in the global calendar, bringing together leaders to discuss issues of strategic importance to the world, from an Asian perspective. >

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is honoured to have played an active role in your deliberations and to have participated in previous BFA Annual Conferences, as well as last year’s BFA Conference on Global Health, Science, Technology and Innovation.

This theme of this year’s Annual Conference is “A World in Change”. It is indeed apt. The pandemic has caused a health and economic crisis, and dramatically changed the way we live, work and play. I therefore, thank the President Xi for his keynote address, as well as the many participants and speakers at this Forum, for your insights on the challenges ahead and what we can do together, as one world, to overcome them.

In the midst of this long and harsh covid-19 winter, there are pockets of sunshine. Human ingenuity and innovation has helped us develop, manufacture and deploy vaccines in record time. WIPO, as the UN agency for intellectual property, is here to strengthen our global innovation ecosystem to help great ideas become reality.

Economically we are beginning are some spring shoots of recovery in Asia. Even before the pandemic, Asia has witnessed tremendous growth in innovative and creative activities. Seven out of ten IP filings now come from Asia, six out of ten R&D dollars are now spent in Asia. Asian economies are amongst the top performing economies in the Global Innovation Index, with Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore along with the north-east Asian powerhouses of China, Republic of Korea and Japan as the top performance.

China, in just a few decades, has transformed its IP and innovation ecosystem. China currently ranks 14th in the WIPO’s Global Innovation Index (GII) 2020 and has been the only middle-income economy in the GII top 30 for many years.

In 2020, China continued being the largest filer of patents with WIPO’s Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) and maintained 3rd and 9th positions in terms of its international trademark and design applications filed before WIPO.

This can be attributed to China’s consistent policy over decades, on attaching great importance to intellectual property, and is fully demonstrated by President Xi’s recent remarks concerning the importance of IP protection. This will place the development of China’s IP ecosystem in a more prominent position, thus opening a new phase for its development in China’s 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025)

Ladies and Gentlemen,

With the “World in Change”, we see opportunities as well for Members seeking to use this to transform their economies, and use innovation and creativity as engines of growth. WIPO is fully committed to working with all of you to build a balanced, inclusive, vibrant and forward-looking global IP ecosystem for the benefit of all. To do this, we need to stop looking at IP just as a legal tool, but as a powerful catalyst for job creation, investments, enterprise growth, economic development and social vibrancy.

WIPO is therefore looking forward to working with you to bring the IP ecosystem closer to the entrepreneurs, enterprises, innovators, creators, researchers and ultimately to the man and woman in the street.

On April 26 each year, we celebrate World IP day, and this year’s theme is “IP &SMEs: Taking your ideas to market”. As SMEs are at the heart of the economies in Asia, making up more than 96% of all-Asian businesses and providing two out of three private-sector jobs in the region, let us work together to support entrepreneurs and SMEs in using IP to bring their ideas and creations to the market.

I’m pleased to share with you that under the framework of this BFA Annual Conference 2021, WIPO and the BFA has successfully co-hosted a Sub-Forum on IP and SMEs just yesterday, discussing how we can work together to help SMEs to drive innovation and creativity, power economic recovery and create employment.

Last but not least, I would like to express my warmest congratulations again to the Boao Forum for Asia on its 20th Anniversary, and to wish this Forum great success in grappling with the most challenging global issues that we face.

Sultan of Brunei Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah, President of Chile Sebastián Piñera Echenique, President of Indonesia Joko Widodo, the First President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, President of the Laos Thongloun Sisoulith, President of the Republic of Korea Moon Jae-in, President of Singapore Halimah Yacob, President of Sri Lanka Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, President of Viet Nam Nguyen Phu Trong, Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of Cambodia Hun Sen, Prime Minister of Malta Robert Abela, Prime Minister of Mongolia Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene, Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern, President of the 75th Session of the United Nations General Assembly Volkan Bozkir, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Kristalina Georgieva and other foreign leaders and heads of international organizations attended the conference upon invitation via video link.

About the the Boao Forum for Asia

Headquartered in China, the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) is an international organization jointly initiated by 29 member states. BFA holds its annual conference in Boao, Hainan on a regular basis. The founding purpose of BFA was to promote economic integration in Asia. Its mission now is to pool positive energy for the development of Asia and the world.

The accomplishments of BFA would have been impossible without the strong support and active participation of the governments of member states, various member partners, and visionaries from various communities. It now has become a high-level dialogue platform for the political, business and academic leaders from Asia and other continents to discuss key Asian and global issues. In the new era, the BFA, based in Asia and with a global outlook, adheres to one running theme of economic development, while expanding into five focal areas including technology innovation, health, education, culture and media in response to the new economy. BFA is committed to contributing to the peace, prosperity and sustainable development of Asia and the world.