WIPO Director General Daren Tang Met with Vice Minister Zhang Jianchun Online

February 9, 2022

On February 5, WIPO Director General Daren Tang had a virtual meeting with Vice Minister Zhang Jianchun, Publicity Department of CCCPC (the National Copyright Administration of China (NCAC)), during his visit to China for the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games.

Mr. Tang expressed his best wishes for the Chinese Lunar New Year to Vice Minister Zhang and colleagues of the NCAC, and congratulated China on the most exciting and highest artistic level of the opening ceremony in the history of Olympic Winter Games. “Zhang Yimou is a treasure to China and the world. I was fortunate to watch it onsite and it demonstrated China's culture, scenery and history.” he said.

Mr. Tang warmly welcomed China's deposit of the instrument of ratification to the Marrakesh Treaty on February 5, which will officially enter into force for China in three months, and stressed that “it is a historical moment for both sides with advances of milestone significance. And I believe this will allow China to demonstrate its humanitarianism in relation to the blind, visual impaired or printing disabled community worldwide.”

They had in-depth exchanges on continuing to consolidate and strengthen positive, pragmatic and friendly cooperation between WIPO and the NCAC. Mr. Tang mentioned China's top-level policy designs on IP in recent years, such as the Guidelines for Building a Powerful Intellectual Property Nation (2021-2035) and the Fourteenth Five-Year Plan on Copyright, which put forward the vision to make the already active creative industries one of the main contributors to the national economy, reaching 7.5% of GDP by 2025. He “believes it will be achieved and will take China's IP development to a new level”. He applauded the importance China attaches to the development of a modern copyright system, and thanked China for the close and fruitful cooperation with the NCAC as well as China's active participation in the discussions on global copyright issues at the international level. He looked forward to further cooperation and exchanges with China in the fields of formulating international copyright rules, promoting the implementation of the Beijing Treaty and the Marrakesh Treaty, strengthening the training of international copyright talents, and enhancing copyright protection of folklore, and introducing more good experiences of China to the world in the field of copyright protection.

Vice Minister Zhang introduced China's efforts and achievements in ratifying the Marrakesh Treaty and strengthening the copyright protection of the Beijing Olympic Winter Games, and appreciated WIPO for its constant support and attention to China's copyright work. He said that China will do a good job in the implementation of the Marrakesh Treaty, and will, as always, strengthen cooperation with WIPO, deeply participate in the global IP governance under the framework of WIPO and work “Together for a Shared Future”.