On September 5, the 9th Meeting of China-ASEAN Heads of Intellectual Property Offices, co-hosted by the China National Intellectual Property Administration(CNIPA) and the ASEAN Secretariat, was held in Singapore. Shen Changyu, Commissioner of CNIPA, and heads of intellectual property offices of ASEAN members presented at the meeting. Freddy Harris, Director General of Directorate General of Intellectual Property, Ministry of Law and Human Rights, Indonesia (DGIP) as well as Chair of ASEAN Working Group on Intellectual Property Cooperation (AWGIPC) chaired the meeting.

Shen Changyu remarked in his speech that China and ASEAN members, linked by rivers and mountains or separated by sea, have similar cultures and historical developing evolutions, and share profound traditional friendships and extensive common interests. Since signing the Memorandum of Understanding on China-ASEAN Cooperation in Intellectual Property with ASEAN in 2009, China and ASEAN have maintained close cooperation in the IP field, established practical and efficient cooperation mechanism, and greatly promoted IP development as well as economic, trade, scientific, technological and cultural exchanges of China and ASEAN members. This year marks the 15th anniversary of China-ASEAN Strategic Partnership, and China is willing to deepen cooperation with ASEAN in the IP field, strengthen the connection between the Belt and Road Initiative and ASEAN development planning, and provide strong impetus to development of China-ASEAN partnership and of various countries. Shen Changyu also introduced on the High Level Conference on Intellectual Property for Countries along the “Belt and Road” that China held recently and fruitful achievements yielded, and highly appreciated active participation of ASEAN members.
    
Freddy Harris reiterated in his speech the great significance of IP cooperation between China and ASEAN, spoke highly of cooperation between China and ASEAN in the past year and fruitful achievements of the High Level Conference on Intellectual Property for Countries along the “Belt and Road” that China held recently, and appreciated the important progress China made in IP protection and IP institutional reform. He also expressed his expectation to strengthen practical exchanges with China in the IP field, and promote continuous development of partnership and traditional friendship between China and ASEAN.

The meeting comprehensively reviewed and assessed the implementation of the China-ASEAN IPR cooperation plan for 2017-2018, and deliberated and approved the China-ASEAN IPR cooperation plan for 2018-2019. The two sides agree to, based on existing cooperation, deepen practical cooperation in various fields including strengthening capacity building, improving quality and efficiency of IP registration and examination, promoting non-governmental IP exchanges and interaction, realization of IP value, and construction of traditional medicine information database, actively explore cooperation in fields of trademark and geographical indication, continuously expand and deepen cooperation, push China-ASEAN cooperation to a new height and facilitate development of China-ASEAN partnership. The two sides agreed that the 10th Meeting of China-ASEAN Heads of Intellectual Property Offices would be held by CNIPA in China in 2019.
    
At the same day, Shen Changyu also met with Hong Xiaoyong, China's ambassador to Singapore, and Koh Poh Koon, Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry, Singapore, and exchanged in-depth opinions on China-Singapore IP cooperation. (Translated from CNIPA Website Chinese Version)