Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), highly appreciated China's staunch position to uphold the multilateral trading system and promote a greater role of the WTO, highlighting that unilateralism can lead only to a lose-lose situation.
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce released its latest report on the United States compliance of WTO rules, exposing the U.S. record as a big violator of the multilateral trading system.
When talking with China Global Television Network (CGTN), Iweala warned against the dangers of unilateralism, likening it to the disastrous policies of the 1930s that led to the Great Depression.
She highlighted the importance of global cooperation, especially for poorer nations.
"Unilateral approaches will lead to lose-lose. We've seen this movie before. In the early 1930s, we had that. So let's try not to do that. And the developing poor countries who are members of the WTO will not have the power to compete or to defend themselves against measures. So, we are really worried that they would be the losers in this, if we continue in this way," she said.
Iweala also lauded China for its strong support of the multilateral trade system, stressing its transparent engagement during trade policy reviews.
"China is a strong support of the multilateral trading system within the WTO and has continued to assure us of its support. Also, during the trade policy review, for the first time China brought a strong delegation that held a seminar here for the first time ever trying to explain China's policies to try to increase transparency. And I think that is a good thing. We need China to continue to do more and more of that. So that the questions asked by the rest of the membership can be answered," said Iweala.
China acts as important contributor to multilateral trade system: WTO Director General
China's development of green industries and the country's initiative of building a unified national market have made steady progress over the first three quarters of 2024, according to the data published by the State Taxation Administration on Sunday.
The tax data highlighted that the development of green industries has gathered pace in Jan-Sept, reflecting a resilient and diversified economic landscape.
Sales revenue in the ecological protection and environmental governance sectors surged by 11.4 percent, while the green technology services sector, including renewable energy and energy-saving solutions, witnessed a growth of approximately 20 percent. As China's broader strategy has continued emphasis on transition toward a more sustainable and innovative paradigm, sales in the clean energy sector, including solar, wind, and hydropower, maintained a rapid growth.
The transportation and logistics sector also registered faster growth, with sales revenue rising by 10 percent year on year. In particular, the growth in multimodal transport and freight forwarding services saw increases of 33.5 percent and 11.3 percent, respectively. The transportation sector in Sept alone experienced a 10.6 percent growth.
Moreover, interprovincial sales volume rose by 2.5 percent, outpacing the overall growth rate of national enterprise sales revenue by 1.1 percent, reflecting a steady progress in building a unified national market.
China on April 10, 2022 unveiled guidelines for accelerating the building of a unified national market, envisioning breaking local protection and market fragmentation and unblocking key sticking points that weigh on economic circulation, as part of a wide-ranging push for an effectively regulated, fairly competitive and fully open market across the country.
China’s green industries, unified national market initiative make steady progress: data
China’s green industries, unified national market initiative make steady progress: data
