BEIJING — State Councilor Wang Yong attended the opening ceremony of the 2018 high-level conference on intellectual property for countries along the Belt and Road in Beijing on Aug 28 and read a congratulatory letter sent by President Xi Jinping.

While addressing the opening ceremony, Wang called for broader, close and pragmatic cooperation on the protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) among the Belt and Road countries to promote innovative development.

He said that the B&R countries need to optimize their IPR laws and regulations, improve IPR reviews and jointly foster an open, transparent, fair environment for more efficient IPR protection.

Wang also advocated the establishment of a regular cooperation mechanism to break new ground for IPR protection cooperation and make bigger contributions to the innovative development and economic prosperity of the Belt and Road countries.