Mr Chairman,
1. It is a great honour for me to make this statement on behalf of ASEAN. We would like to convey our heart-felt congratulations to Mr Francis Gurry on the endorsement of his nomination from the General Assembly for the position of Director General of WIPO. We also thank the out-going Director General, Dr Kamil Idriss, for all his efforts in strengthening WIPO-ASEAN cooperation and wish him well in his future endeavours.
Mr Chairman,
2. We in ASEAN wish Mr Gurry all the best as he takes on one of the most demanding jobs in the UN system. We have no doubt that Mr Gurry will deal with the challenges that WIPO faces in the short, medium and the long term, effectively and efficiently, with wisdom and determination, and with courage and leadership.
3. We hope that this will be a new chapter for us to move towards building WIPO into a strong and effective organisation. To achieve this, all Member States, whether developing or developed, and irrespective of regional affiliations, will need to work together in partnership. Further, it is essential to foster closer cooperation between WIPO Secretariat and member states. In this regard, we commend Mr Gurry for his hard work over the past months to establish an open dialogue with Member States to exchange views on the vision for WIPO and wish to encourage him to continue his efforts on this front.
4. The ASEAN Geneva Committee pledges its full commitment to work closely with Mr Gurry, as he prepares to lead WIPO. We look forward to cooperating with him in fashioning WIPO’s next chapter and in strengthening ASEAN’s collaboration with WIPO. We do so in full knowledge that we have, after due diligence and process, arrived at the best possible choice to bring the membership together and WIPO forward.
5. Thank you, Mr Chairman.