Abu Dhabi, UAE–China is willing to work with all parties to achieve more pragmatic results at the 13th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) held in Abu Dhabi, according to the country’s Commerce Minister Wang Wentao on Sunday.
During his meeting with Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the WTO in Abu Dhabi, Wentao said that China supports several key initiatives that include the restoration of the normal functioning of the WTO’s dispute settlement mechanism.
Also, discussions focused on the formulation of a work plan for agricultural negotiations, addressing the concerns of the least developed countries and net food-importing developing countries regarding food security, and promoting the conclusion of the second phase of the agreement on fisheries subsidies.
Wentao said that China supports the inclusion of the agreement on investment facilitation for development into the WTO’s legal framework, maintaining the moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions, concluding e-commerce negotiations as soon as possible and advancing multilateral trade rules to keep pace with the times.
During the meeting, Okonjo-Iweala expressed her expectation that China will continue to play a leading role in negotiations on issues such as reforming the WTO’s dispute settlement mechanism and the second phase of fisheries subsidies, as well as make further contributions to the success of the MC13.
This four-day event brings together ministers and senior officials to discuss international trade rules and regulations.