Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng attends the WTO seven parties ministers meeting in Istanbul on October 5. Attending the meeting were European Commissioner for Trade Anna Cecilia Malmstrom, Indian Minister of Industry and Commerce Nirmala Sitharaman, Deputy US Trade Representative and US Ambassador to the WTO Michael Punke, Brazil Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Japanese Vice Minister of Economy and Industry and Vice Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and Acting Deputy Secretary of Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Justin Brown. WTO Director-General Roberto Azevêdo and Kenya’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Amina Mohamed also attended the meeting. All parties mainly talked on the fruits of the MC10 and the Doha Round negotiations after the MC10.
Gao Hucheng said in spite of the arduous experience for the Doha Round negotiations over 14 years, with joint efforts of all parties, we have achieved fruitful results. The 9th WTO Trade Ministers’ Meeting made package results including Trade Facilitation Agreement in 2013, shoring up their confidence in the multilateral trading system. The MC10 is to be held in Africa for the first time in this coming December. The Doha round is a round of development and it’s of great significance to host the meeting in developing countries. Whether the MC10 succeeds or not concerns the future of Doha Round and the WTO’s position in global governance. The Chinese side would like to join efforts with all sides to contribute to a successful MC10 with balanced, meaningful and suitable results. The Chinese side would like to work with all sides to negotiate on possible topics, support to integrate topics with high consensus and rapid progress and regard them as the entry point of negotiations. We will incorporate the accessible fruits gradually step by step so as to steadily step up the negotiations.
Gao Hucheng said, the multilateral trade negotiations have never gone on smoothly, especially when it relates to difficult issues concerning the liberalization of farm produce. He stressed that the developmental issues are common challenges in global governance, and need long term handling. The Development Agenda beyond 2015 lately formulated by the UN establishes new goals for sustainable development, and the WTO should also make contributions in this regard. The Chinese side holds the views that whatever results are made on Doha Round, the developmental goals for Doha Round should not be abandoned and the negotiation authority must be reserved. China is committed to the unsolved problems and will strive to complete the Doha Round negotiations as soon as possible and realize development authorization. These are the basic preconditions for the MC10 to make fruits in the Doha Round negotiations , and should be reflected in the Nairobi Statement.
On the same day, Gao Hucheng also met with Kenya’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Amina Mohamed, Indian Minister of Industry and Commerce Nirmala Sitharaman, Turkish Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci, Indonesian Trade Minister, South Africa’s Minister of Trade and Industry Rob Davies, and the General Director of the WTO Roberto Azevêdo. They held in-depth talks on issues relating to the MC10 fruits, the prospect of Doha Round negotiations and other issues of common concern.
Also attending were Chinese Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen, and China’s Trade Representative and Permanent Ambassador to the WTO Yu Jianhua.
