Page:China and WTO White Paper 2018.pdf/10

 Promoting plurilateral trade liberalization. As a developing country, China has actively participated in plurilateral liberalization initiatives and made important contributions to relevant talks. It accepted the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) upon accession, subsequently participated in the negotiations to expand its coverage, and encouraged relevant parties to reach agreement on eliminating tariffs of 201 information technology products. As one of the initiators of the negotiations on the Environment Goods Agreement, China always participated in relevant discussions in a constructive manner, and contributed to the important consensus reached at the G20 Summit in Hangzhou. In 2007, China started the negotiation on its accession to the Agreement on Government Procurement and has been making great efforts ever since.

Mobilizing support for discussing new issues in the WTO. China has encouraged the WTO to respond to and discuss new topics of general interest to the members such as investment facilitation, micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), and e-commerce. China initiated "Friends of Investment Facilitation for Development (FIFD)" and sponsored the Joint Ministerial Statement on Investment Facilitation for Development signed by over 70 members. China joined the "Friends of Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises", and shared with other members its proposals that support MSMEs. As an advocate of multilateral discussions on e-commerce in the WTO, China joined "Friends of E-commerce for Development (FED)", shared its experiences and helped other developing members benefit from e-commerce.

Faithfully implementing the Trade Facilitation Agreement. As a developing member, China has actively promoted the implementation of TFA. It has set up the National Committee on Trade Facilitation to coordinate the efforts of relevant government agencies to enhance trade facilitation. By 2017, China's provinces (as well as autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government) had all established a joint committee mechanism for trade facilitation in their respective jurisdictions. Regarding China's TFA commitments, 94.5 percent of all commitments fall into Category A (immediately implemented upon entry into force of the TFA), and only four items belong to Category B (implemented after a transitional period following the TFA's entry into force). China will honor its promise and implement all the Category B measures following a transitional period of three years after entry into force of the Agreement.

2. Safeguarding the dispute settlement mechanism

Safeguarding the effective operation of the dispute settlement mechanism. The WTO dispute settlement mechanism has played a vital role in maintaining the predictability of international trade and the stability of the multilateral trading system.