5 March, 2020
WIPO Director General Nomination – Thank You Remarks By Mr Daren Tang.
Dear friends and colleagues,
You may have heard the news by now of my nomination by the WIPO Coordination Committee (CoCo) as the next Director General of WIPO.
I am deeply grateful and honoured by the support of the CoCo for my candidature and for Singapore.
This election campaign has been a marathon, and as with any marathon, there is a special affinity between those who ran in the race. I therefore want to thank my fellow candidates who were in the CoCo session, Ms. Wang Binying, Mr. Marco Aleman, Dr. Edward Kwakwa and Mr. Ivo Gagliuffi Piercechi, as well as others who had been nominated by their governments, for their commitment and passion in wanting to step forward to serve WIPO.
Each of my fellow candidates brought to the race, formidable expertise, exciting vision and inspiring energy, and it was honour for me to be alongside you on this journey. We competed hard but always with a spirit of mutual respect and courtesy, and I know that we will continue to maintain this spirit to make WIPO an inclusive and collaborative organization that supports all countries and all regions.
In the larger picture, the fact that we had candidates from all over the world also demonstrates how important IP and WIPO is to the global community. This is a testament to the WIPO membership as well as to the amazing work that the WIPO leadership and Secretariat has done to date in building up WIPO, and augurs well for its continued and future success.
Every race has its rules, and I also wish to thank the many people who have been involved in making the election process open, fair and transparent.
For the smooth conduct of proceedings throughout the past months, much credit is owed to the Chair of our Committee, Ambassador Francois Rivasseau, for his diplomatic skills, his unfailing consideration and patience, and for always upholding respect for due process.
I also wish to thank WIPO DG Francis Gurry and the WIPO secretariat for their meticulous preparations and efficient facilitation of our proceedings, not just for the clarity and timeliness of the documentation in all languages, but the substantial logistical and administrative preparations that we all know happen behind the scenes in order to ensure a smooth proceeding.
I would also like to express my deep gratitude and appreciation to the government of Singapore for nominating me as the first candidate in our history for a UN leadership position, and for the strong belief and support of the leaders of my country throughout the process.
Lastly, I would like to thank the many colleagues across various government agencies in Singapore who were intimately involved in the campaign, and who made our campaign a truly whole of government endeavour.
I look forward to meeting the full WIPO community at the upcoming extraordinary session of the WIPO General Assembly in May 2020.
Thank you very much.
Daren Tang
