On December 9th, Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao met with WTO Director-General Dr. Okonjo-Iweala and they exchanged in-depth views on WTO reform and deepening cooperation between China and the WTO. Vice Minister of Commerce Li Fei accompanied the Minister to attend the meeting.

Wang Wentao said that the third plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee proposed to actively participate in reform of the global economic governance system. In November this year, President Xi Jinping delivered an important speech on the reform of global governance institutions at the G20 Summit, stressing the need to continue to promote the reform of the WTO and oppose unilateralism and protectionism. China will implement the guiding principles of President Xi’s series of important speeches, practice true multilateralism, safeguard the multilateral trading system with the WTO at its core, and push for the WTO to play a greater role in resolving global development issues and promoting global trade and investment liberalization and facilitation.

Wang Wentao said that WTO reform is of great significance for meeting global common challenges, and China is willing to work with all parties to promote progress. China supports the WTO in achieving more results in the field of development and calls for the resumption of the normal operation of the dispute settlement mechanism. China supports the early incorporation of the Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement into the WTO legal framework, the conclusion of the second phase agreement on fishery subsidies, the conclusion of negotiations on the Joint Statement Initiative on E-commerce, and the promotion of multilateral trade rules to keep pace with the times.

Dr. Okonjo-Iweala said that she was greatly inspired and encouraged by President Xi’s important speech at the G20 summit. China has always been a staunch defender and supporter of the WTO, and China’s constructive role and leadership are the key to the success of the WTO Ministerial Conferences. It is expected that China will continue to play a leading role in promoting the WTO reform and improving global trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, to make contribution to the success of the WTO MC14.