(Xinhua/Wang Ye)
Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang said on Monday that China was ready to work with the international community to quickly put the world economy on rails.
Mr. Li made these remarks during his meeting with the Director General of the World Trade Organization (OMC), Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, on the sidelines of the 17th Summit of the BRICS.
Global trade has undergone significant changes with the rise of unilateralism and protectionism, which seriously affected international economic and commercial order and posed serious challenges to the global economy and the development of countries, said Mr. LI.
In this context, the international community is increasingly calling for the safeguarding of the multilateral trading system and expects more and more from the WTO that it plays a more active role, he added.
Noting that economic globalization is an irreversible trend in history, Mr. Li has assured that China would continue, as always, to practice and preserve multilateralism as well as free trade, to actively support the reform and development of the WTO in order to restore its authority, to accelerate the improvement of commercial rules and to promote more concrete results during the 14th ministerial conference of the OMC.
Mr. Li stressed that China had abundant resources and means to counter the opposing external impacts, and that it was as confident as they are able to promote stable and healthy economic development.
This year, China has implemented more proactive and effective macroeconomic policies, has advanced the strategy of expansion of domestic demand and launched special initiatives to stimulate consumption, he recalled, emphasizing the huge growing demand generated by the gigantic market of more than 1.4 billion consumers.
China, added Mr. Li, will introduce more voluntary and unilateral opening measures, will strictly respect the principles as well as the WTO market rules and will continue to share development opportunities with other countries, in order to instill in the world a positive energy.
For her part, Ms. Okonjo-Iweala noted that the current multilateral trade system has been affected and that the global economy and trade growth are faced with serious challenges.
She called on WTO members to strengthen dialogue and cooperation, preserve the multilateral trading system and promote sustainable development.
The WTO welcomes the long-term support and assistance of China to the least developed countries and highly appreciates its important role in the multilateral trading system, she said.
Okonjo-iweala also said that the WTO was delighted to work with China and other members to promote organizational reform, create an open and inclusive commercial environment, and provide favorable conditions for the development of global trade and economic recovery.
