 The Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances, so named in honor of the city that hosted the final negotiations, was concluded on June 26, 2012. For the first time, the intellectual property rights of actors and other audiovisual performers have been expanded and comprehensively recognized in international copyright law. China has been to the bottom of the ocean and to the top of the sky, and the universe of copyright has expanded to include a new treaty, the Beijing Treaty, which at last recognizes the contribution that actors and audiovisual performers make to enriching our lives. In the same way that writers and composers depend upon royalty income for their survival in the long term, performers around the world must benefit as well from income from the exploitation of their work. The Beijing Treaty strengthens the precarious position of many struggling film actors and other performers by providing a clearer international legal framework for their protection. It gives performers stronger economic rights and the possibility of valuable extra income. The Beijing Treaty also provides performers with protection in the digital environment, giving them some measure of control over how and when their works, their films and videos, are used on the internet. In many countries, the treaty means that the performances of actors in audiovisual works such as movies, television programs and music videos will be protected for the very first time. The Beijing Treaty will enable performers to interact with greater confidence with the digital environment. The treaty effectively brings the rights of actors and performers into line with those available to musicians and recording artists under the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty, which was concluded in 1996. The treaty is a magnificent achievement. It addresses the whole community of the performers and comes to fill a very important gap, since only sound recordings were protected. Today, audiovisual recordings are also protected, so musicians with their colleagues, actors and all other performers are now enjoying a protection that covers the whole of their performance. Actors from around the world welcome the conclusion of the Beijing Treaty as a historic landmark and an important turning point. Finally, after 51 years, audiovisual performers are not second-class citizens. Along with audio performers and along with producers, along with authors, we are now recognized as having economic and moral rights over the content that we perform in. It's crazy that it hasn't happened before, but it's so important that it's happened now. We have been working for this for more than 20 years, lots of people all over the world to make it possible for actors to keep on acting and for the audience to actually have the privilege of seeing all kinds of films, all kinds of movies. Not only does the conclusion of the Beijing Treaty represent a triumph for actors and other audiovisual performers, it is also a victory for multilateralism. It is an affirmation of the relevance of multilateralism in general and of multilateral rulemaking in the field of intellectual property in particular. Government delegates also welcome the successful outcome of the diplomatic conference and the adoption of the Beijing Treaty. This meeting is a great success. In terms of intellectual property right protection, especially copyright protection, this is milestone success. It reflects the hard work Waipo has been doing in the past 10 years and that's the result. Conclusion obviously bodes well for multilateralism and it goes to demonstrate that the international community can come together over all important issues such as this and actually come to an agreement which obviously leads to the signing of a viable treaty. This will be a very important instrument for our stakeholders, performers and also the producers of Indian film industry and this diplomatic conference is the best example for the multilateralism and norm setting in a very flexible and friendly manner which all the member countries participated and then agreed to the final conclusion of the legal treaty instrument. The wonderful thing is the delegates here in Beijing have seized the opportunity to bring performing artists into the system of intellectual property that was started 125 years ago by delegates in Berlin, Switzerland. President was pleased with the outcome. We have been fighting hard to have some of the points that we had been raised before and none of them have now been adopted. For the European Union and its member states, the very successful conclusion of the diplomatic conference and making a reality of the protection of performers in artificial fixation in the artificial sector is a long-due success and we're very glad to have a committee here in Beijing. We are very happy to have the Beijing Treaty now. Well, we did it. I feel actually very privileged and honoured to be participating in this historical event. It's a very great, it's an important step for the multilateralism in general. It was very significant and impressive. Very nice. From the Philippines, this treaty is very, very much awaited. It only shows that no matter how the world is getting more and more complex, it's really getting more and more smaller when you have people focused and dedicated to do what they really want to do. This treaty, this is going to be a gift to humanity. Over 650 delegates from 156 Waipo member states, 6 into governmental organizations and 45 non-governmental organizations, the highest number in Waipo's history attended the diplomatic conference. 48 countries signed the Beijing Treaty, signalling their commitment to examine the treaty domestically for ratification. The treaty will enter into force once ratified by 30 eligible parties. 122 delegations signed the final act, another record in the history of diplomatic conferences at Waipo. The high level participation of Chinese government and municipal authorities and daily press coverage by over 130 registered local and foreign journalists was a clear indication of the importance of the country attached to the event.