The Coordination Committee of the World Intellectual Property Organization has nominated Daren Tang, the chief of Singapore's Intellectual Property Office, as WIPO's next director-general.

Tang was nominated on March, 4 after he defeated China's candidate Wang Binying, who is now the agency's deputy chief, and has served WIPO for 28 years, in a vote by the coordination committee on Thursday in Geneva.

Later, Chen Xu, China's permanent representative to the United Nations Office at Geneva and other international organizations in Switzerland, congratulated Tang when speaking to reporters.

"China will continue its proactive participation in the global governance of the world's intellectual property," Chen was quoted by China Central Television as saying.

The WIPO General Assembly will meet in an extraordinary session on May 7-8 to confirm the Thursday nomination, according to a statement by the agency. The term of office of the current director-general Francis Gurry expires on Sept 30 this year.

Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in a tweet:"This is the first time a Singaporean has been nominated for the leadership position of a UN Agency."

The general assembly "has the final say, and has never rejected a committee nominee since the agency was created in 1967", Singapore's Strait Times reported.

The election process was clouded by the United States' intervention, as some Chinese diplomats said recently that Washington has pressured other member countries give up their support for the Chinese candidate.

Source: China Daily