On February 26, Minister Wang Wentao delivered remarks at the Ministerial Conversation on Trade and Sustainable Development during the 13th WTO Ministerial Conference. Vice Minister of Commerce Li Fei and Ambassador of China’s Permanent Mission to the WTO Li Chenggang also attended the meeting.

Wang said that President Xi Jinping has stressed China is implementing the new development philosophy and promoting high-quality development to build a modernized country where humanity and nature coexist in harmony. China has leveraged its strengths and experience to provide high-quality and affordable green products to the world and made significant contributions to addressing common global challenges such as climate change and unbalanced development. China calls on all parties to jointly create an enabling environment for trade in green products, promote green trade liberalization and facilitation, and make development more sustainable. The booming digital trade has brought new impetus to all countries, especially developing countries. China supports the extension of the moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions, calls for an early and comprehensive conclusion of the Joint Statement Initiative on Electronic Commerce and stands ready to work with other members to move faster with new multilateral digital trade rules to create more opportunities for sustainable development.

Wang pointed out that unilateralism and protectionism run counter to global sustainable development. Some members engage in trade bullying with “small yards and high fences” and “decoupling and fragmenting industrial and supply chains”, and hinder sustainable development using protectionism in the name of “green” and “fair trade”. China supports strengthening regulatory review to enhance the stability and resilience of global industrial and supply chains, and calls for the inclusion of the IFD Agreement into the WTO legal framework to support the economic development and industrialization of developing members and promote the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

(All information published on this website is authentic in Chinese. English is provided for reference only.)