During the General Assembly of the Member States of the World Intellectual Property Organization – WIPO, on Monday, July 14, 2025, at the WIPO headquarters in Geneva, a meeting was held between the delegation of the Republic of Serbia and the Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization, Mr. Darren Tang.
The Serbian delegation consisted of Vladimir Marić, Director of the Intellectual Property Office, Nikola Ratković, Deputy Ambassador of the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Serbia to the UN in Geneva, Daniela Zlatić Šutić, Asst. Director in the IPO and Jovana Đurović Vojinović, Third Secretary of the Permanent Mission. In addition to the Director General of WIPO, the meeting was also attended by Mr. Hasan Kleib, Deputy Director of WIPO, Hasan Habib, Director of the Sector for Countries in Transition and Developing Countries and their associates.
Mr. Darren Tang warmly welcomed the Serbian delegation and expressed his satisfaction with the exceptional and fruitful cooperation that our country has with the WIPO, citing current cooperation programs, emphasizing that Serbia is an example for the countries in the region in the field of intellectual property as well as in cooperation activities with the WIPO. Mr. Hasan Kleib also proposed new cooperation activities, especially in the field of intellectual property education for certain target groups. Director Marić thanked the Director General for his hospitality and emphasized the importance that the WIPO has for our country. On this occasion, Director Marić reiterated the invitation extended at the beginning of the year by the Ambassador of the Permanent Mission to visit the Republic of Serbia on the occasion of the celebration of the 105th anniversary of the Intellectual Property Office, which will be held on November 25th,2025, emphasizing that this would be of immeasurable importance for our policymakers and users of intellectual property system.
Following the bilateral meeting with Darren Tang, Director General of WIPO, a bilateral meeting was held between the representatives of the IPO and Hassan Habib, Director of the Sector for Countries in Transition and Developing Countries, and his team with whom the Office implements the cooperation programs. During the meeting, plans for cooperation in the coming period were discussed: namely: ongoing support for the development of a national intellectual property development program (strategy), support for marking the 105th anniversary of the IPO a regional workshop within the framework of the patent application support program to be held in December, as well as Serbia`s participation in the pilot program for the promotion in the pilot program for the promotion of the Madrid System for the international protection of trademarks, a potential program for the promotion of products with geographical indications, as well as other potential activities for technology transfer and raising awareness and the importance of intellectual property for various target groups.
