Minister Han met with Roberto Azevêdo, Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Beijing on May 19, 2014. The two sides had an open discussion on post-Bali agricultural negotiations.
Director-General Azevêdo briefed about the latest developments of the post-Bali negotiations as well as the principles to further the progress. He noted that the WTO will not enforce any negotiation outcomes on its members, but will spare no efforts to ensure each member, including China, to make due contributions within its capacity. Yet, at present, it is hard to balance the interests and concerns of all members and find out the landing zone for negotiations.
Minister Han congratulated Azevêdo for being the first full-term WTO DG from a developing member, and spoke highly of his efforts in pushing forward the negotiation process. Minister Han said that as the only global multilateral trade organization, the WTO has always played an irreplaceable and authoritative role in world trade governance. China holds a positive attitude toward the Doha negotiations and would like to make due contributions to facilitate its early conclusion.
In addition, Minister Han also highlighted the following points:
First, the Doha Round is a round of development and the post-Bali agricultural negotiations, therefore, should stick to the Doha Round mandate on the basis of 2008 modalities;
Second, given China's WTO commitments on agriculture, though its agricultural foundation is rather weak, limited room was left for domestic support. Recently, China unveiled some agricultural subsidy policies but at a slow speed and low per capita level, so they are unlikely to be trade-distorting;
Third, newly accessed members (NAMs) is not a concept of time but a substantive term, referring to those who made remarkable commitments in their WTO accessions. And now most of them are facing great difficulties of further tariff reduction in the Doha Round. Therefore, their core concerns should be given adequate consideration.
For his part, DG Azevêdo agreed to explain China's concerns to other WTO members in future negotiations.
Vice Minister Niu Dun and Chief Economist of MOA Bi Meijia also attended the meeting.