On 16th September, 2014, the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) came out with an announcement detailing who composes the new WIPO Senior Management Team. Among the new appointees is Mr. Naresh Prasad, who has been appointed as the Assistant Director General by Francis Gurry, the Director General of WIPO.
Mr. Prasad, a graduate of St. Stephens College, New Delhi and a member of the Indian Administrative Services, had previously been serving as the Chief Of Staff at WIPO from the year 2009. Prior to that, he had worked with the Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry, followed by the UN Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO).
The announcement sets out that Mr. Prasad’s new responsibilities (in addition to continuing as Chief of Staff) shall include supporting the Director General’s Management and the meetings of Assemblies of Member States, the Chief Ethics Officer and WIPO’s External Offices.
The appointment document specifically states that the appointment would be “personal to Mr. Prasad” and “would not constitute a precedent”. It has also been noted that this post has been created newly for Mr. Prasad, at a cost of an addition 40,000 Swiss Francs per year.
What is also interesting is that the term of office for all the new senior appointees is linked to the term of Mr. Gurry. The report reads, “ should the term of office of the Director General come to an end more than six months before its stated term on September 30, 2020, the terms of office of the Deputy Directors General and Assistant Directors General will end six months after the end of the Director General’s appointment.”
This aside, it is indeed heartening news that India is being represented in the upper echelons of WIPO. Further, the other appointees of the Senior Management team sees representation from countries such as Nigeria, Barbados and Sri Lanka.
[Thanks to Thiru of KEI for bringing this to our notice. Here is the link to KEI’s post on the other appointments]
