BEIJING, May 30 (Xinhua) -- China is actively promoting global trade facilitation and liberalization, contributing its wisdom and solutions to maintain multilateral trading system, said World Trade Organization (WTO) Deputy Director-General Yi Xiaozhun in an interview with Xinhua.
When attending the 2019 China Beijing International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) opened here Tuesday, the senior official with the WTO told Xinhua reporter that China's active participation in the WTO trade facilitation negotiations has facilitated the clinching of WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement, and it has also taken active part in the WTO's negotiations on the Information Technology Agreement (ITA), which has brought trillion dollars worth of trade to the world.
China has also made its own contribution to global trade liberalization and actively taken part in the negotiation of government procurement agreements, Yi added.
Yi Xiaozhun, World Trade Organization Deputy Director-General(left) in an interview with Xinhua during the 2019 China Beijing International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS).
China has recently promulgated the Foreign Investment Law and issued new measures on further opening up its service market involving fields like banking, securities, telecommunications, education, medical and social services. These measures are welcomed by Chinese trading partners while injecting momentum to China's economy, Yi said.
Accoridng to the senior official with WTO, many WTO members, including China, are actively and constructively participating in several WTO negotiations and dialogues concerning e-commerce, supervision on domestic services and investment facilitation to cope with the changing world situation.
China, which was accepted as a member of the WTO on December 11, 2001, has grown from a beginner to an indispensable core member of the WTO, noted Yi. "China is playing an important role in all kinds of WTO negotiations, the progress China has achieved is impressive", Yi said.
Talking about the digital economy, Yi pointed out that in the digital era, market opening-up is key to service trade development.
The strong growth of digital economy in China has pushed forward continuous development of the country's service trade. China's service trade totaled 5.24 trillion yuan in 2018, posting a year-on-year increase of 11.5 percent. It has ranked second in the world in terms of trade size for five consecutive years, making China an important driving force for the development of global service trade. (Edited by Bao Nuomin, baonuomin@xinhua.org)
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