Chinese leaders, including Beijing party chief Liu Qi,?as well as?officers from WIPO attend the closing ceremony of Diplomatic Conference in Beijing on June 26. [China.org.cn]

An international treaty on Audiovisual Performances was signed yesterday in Beijing, marking a milestone in the protection of performers and artists and a clear sign that global markets have become increasingly important to the entertainment industry.

The treaty, which came out at the end of the nearly week-long Diplomatic Conference on the Protection of Audiovisual Performances in Beijing, is set to safeguard the economic rights of actors and audiovisual performers and provide them with extra income from their work.

The Beijing Treaty is the first intellectual property treaty of the 21st century, according to Liu Binjie, director of the General Administration of Press and Publications.

Liu Qi, secretary of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, also hailed the signing of the Beijing Treaty as he addressed the closing ceremony of the conference.

China's movie industry has grown rapidly over the past decade. In March, the government announced an ambitious plan to more than double the size of the country's entertainment and cultural industries over the next five years. The plan is expected to increase the country's current film and television production value to almost 3 trillion yuan (US$460 billion) by 2016.

China's booming entertainment industry has brought the issue of IPR protection to the fore. The Beijing Treaty will enable performers and actors to share with producers the benefits gained from the use and distribution of their works.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said at a daily press briefing on June 26 that the finalization of the Beijing Treaty will greatly enhance both international cooperation on IPR protection and China's IPR protection. .

Hong expressed China's pleasure in hosting the conference and contributing to the signing of the treaty, which has demonstrated the sound cooperative relations between China and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), as well as China's willingness to promote international IPR cooperation.

The conference, which ran from June 20 to 26, was convened by WIPO and hosted by the Chinese National Copyright Administration and the Beijing municipal government. Xinhua News Agency contributed to this story.