Rena Lee

Rena Lee

Rena Lee is the ambassador for Singapore Oceans and Law of the Sea issues, special envoy of the minister for foreign affairs, and ambassador for international law. She is also the chief executive of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS), having taken over from Daren Tang. She was included in the Leaders category of Time Magazine's 2024 list of the 100 most influential people for her chairing of successful final negotiations, leading to an agreed text for the first international agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) more simply known as the High Seas Treaty. 

Education and career

Lee graduated with a master’s degree in law from the National University of Singapore in 1998. She joined the Singapore Ministry of Defence in 1992 and began her practice of international law. She joined the Bar in 1993 and the Singapore attorney general’s chambers in 2008. She is a member of the Legal and Technical Commission of the International Seabed Authority and was Minister-Counsellor at the Hague Diplomatic Office of Singapore in the Netherlands.  In 2020 Lee became the CEO of the Singapore Intellectual Property Office.

Lee was elected president of the UN Intergovernmental Conference on the High Seas Treaty or BBNJ agreement in 2018. Discussions had started in 2004 with formal talks following for many years thereafter. The high seas, which cover almost half of the planet, start where the borders of countries’ exclusive economic zones, up to 200 nautical miles from coastlines and continental shelves, end. The high seas therefore do not fall under the jurisdiction of any country.

The final negotiations of the High Seas treaty were lengthy but successful. As recognition of her careful, firm diplomacy with representatives of 193 nations, Lee was included in the 2024 Time magazine list of the 100 most influential people. The treaty is seen as an important first step towards conserving 30 per cent of the world's land and sea by 2030, a goal set as part of 30 by 30 in December 2023.

The treaty was then adopted in June 2023 by the entire UN membership and now needs to be signed and ratified by member countries. If 60 countries ratify the treaty, it will become legally binding.