DDG Wang Binying Holds Meeting with Secretary General Li Baodong | Series Reports (I)

April 1, 2023

On March 29, Ms. Wang Binying, Deputy Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), met with Mr. Li Baodong, Secretary General of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) in Boao, Hainan.

Ms. Wang congratulated the successful convening of the 2023 Annual Conference of the BFA, and looking forward to an important speech to be delivered by Premier Li Qiang of the State Council of China at the opening ceremony of the Annual Conference. She expressed that since its establishment, the BFA has become a fruitful platform for information, policy, and experience exchange, demonstrating remarkable leading role in promoting economic integration in Asia and condensing positive energy for the development of Asia and the world. The annual conference of the BFA demonstrated the vitality and resilience of the Asian region in an uncertain world. Ms. Wang appreciated the achievement made by Asian countries, especially China, in global innovation.

Ms. Wang said that WIPO highly appreciated the good cooperative relationship with the BFA and regarded it as one of its most important partners. She was pleased that the BFA has included intellectual property (IP) as the topic of its annual conference and has become one of its five permanent thematic forums. WIPO will continue to support the work of the BFA and looks forward to working with the BFA to jointly further the role of IP in supporting and promoting sustainable development of IP in nations of Asia as well as of the world.

Mr. Li introduced that this year is the first time that the annual conference of the BFA has fully resumed offline conferences, and it is also the first time that the new Prime Minister of China has participated in the annual conference of the BFA after the change of the host Chinese government. In addition, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, Côte d'Ivoire Prime Minister Patrick Achi and Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Kristalina Georgieva were also invited to attend the opening conference of the BFA and deliver speeches.

Mr. Li thanked WIPO for its support and participation in the Annual Conference, the Conference of International Science, Technology and Innovation Forum and the Conference of Global Health Forum of the BFA. He emphasized that IP protection is not only an international frontier issue but also a requirement for the development of Asian nations, particularly businesses, and is a major subject of domestic and international concern. The BFA places a high value on the issue of IP and has worked with WIPO on a series of projects to promote IP protection. The BFA is ready to deepen cooperation with WIPO, share WIPO's expertise in the field of IP, and promote high-quality innovative development of all countries.