WIPO member states have approved Director General Kamil Idris's appointments to senior positions at the Organization.

All the appointments, which were confirmed on June 20, will take effect on December 1 2006 and last until the end of Idris's term of office on November 30 2009.

Narendra Sabharwal of India will take over from Geoffrey Yu of Singapore as deputy director general covering economic development. Yu leaves WIPO after 25 years in Geneva.

In the only appointment from outside WIPO, Michael Keplinger of the US will take over from his compatriot Rita Hayes as deputy director general, and will be responsible for copyright and related rights. He formerly worked on copyright issues at the USPTO.

Francis Gurry of Australia and Philippe Petit of France will remain as deputy director generals, with Gurry responsible for patents, the Arbitration and Mediation Center and global IP issues and Petit in charge of general affairs and administration.

Ernesto Rubio stays as an assistant director general in charge of trade marks, industrial designs and geographical indications, but will report directly to the director general.

Two new assistant director generals will be appointed. Geoffrey Onyeama of Nigeria, who is director of the economic development bureau for Africa, will take charge of external relations and industry relations.

Wang Binying of China, who is executive director, administrative support services and general assembly affairs, is promoted to assistant director general covering the same topics.

The changes mean that just one of WIPO's most senior eight managers, Wang, will be a woman. Nevertheless, WIPO said the appointments "confirm the trend of better gender balance and geographical representation in the Organization".

WIPO has sought to become more representative of its member states: 94 states are represented on its staff today compared to 68 in December 1997. The proportion of female staff has increased from 30% to 42% in the same period.