The co-conveners of the World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations on e-commerce, Australia, Japan, and Singapore, issued a joint statement on Saturday in Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon, announcing the establishment of interim arrangements for the E-Commerce Agreement.
At the 14th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC14) on Saturday, 66 WTO members, including China, said the interim arrangements would provide a pathway to bring the E-Commerce Agreement into force, while continuing to work toward its incorporation into the WTO's legal framework.
The E-Commerce Agreement, a significant milestone for the WTO in recent years, will enter into force for members that have accepted it once 45 members have deposited their instruments of acceptance, according to the joint statement.
The step marks a major advance in implementing the world's first baseline set of global digital trade rules to facilitate cross-border electronic transactions.
WTO announces interim arrangements on e-commerce agreement
China launched the first direct flight route linking Beijing and the Finnish capital, Helsinki, at the Daxing International Airport on Sunday, marking the opening of a new air corridor between China and the Nordic region.
Operated by China Southern Airlines, the route will provide round-trip flights between the two capital cities three times per week, with services scaling up to daily operations in June.
"Since the opening of the new flight, passengers from 50 cities in China can travel conveniently from the Daxing International Airport to Finland and transfer to other locations in Europe. It will build an efficient and convenient air bridge for economic and trade cooperation, people-to-people exchanges and tourism collaboration between China and Finland, as well as between China and other Nordic countries," said Gu Mengjun, deputy general manager of the North China Marketing Center of China Southern Airlines Marketing Committee.
"[It] usually took me 12 hours to get to Beijing. Now. it's much shorter, and it's super convenient," said a traveler.
China has been Finland's largest trading partner in Asia for decades, while Finland ranks as China's third-largest trading partner in the Nordic region. Last year, bilateral trade reached 8.26 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 60 million U.S. dollars compared with the previous year.
"This is a great day of all of us. It will be connecting the capital of China to the northern Europe. It will help both ways, you will see more north Europeans coming to Beijing area. And at the same time, you will see people from north of China coming more to the north of Europe," said Petri Vuori, senior vice president of Finavia.
Sunday marks the start of the summer-autumn flight schedule for Chinese airlines, with major carriers adjusting and launching new domestic and international routes. The new flight season will run through October.
In addition to China Southern Airlines, Air China will resume a direct route from Beijing to India’s Delhi, while China Eastern Airlines plans to launch new services linking Shanghai with Tashkent, as well as Xi’an with Vienna.
According to the Civil Aviation Administration of China, more than 20,000 international flights will be operated each week during the new flight season, marking a 1.8 percent increase year on year. Experts say the expansion of the international flight network highlights China's continued commitment to high-level opening-up.
China launches direct flight route linking Beijing, Helsinki
