Yi Xiaozhun, WTO's Deputy Director-General, speaks during the Singapore-WTO Policy Dialogue on the World Trading System for Senior Government Officials from Asia and the Pacific in Singapore, Oct. 5, 2017. The two-day event is the preparatory workshop for the 11th World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference that will be held in Buenos Aires in December.(Xinhua/Then Chih Wey)
SINGAPORE, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- Singapore-WTO Policy Dialogue on the World Trading System for Senior Government Officials from Asia and the Pacific was launched in Singapore on Thursday.
The two-day event is the preparatory workshop for the 11th World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference that will be held in Buenos Aires this December. It is jointly organized by Singapore's Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI), WTO, Singapore Cooperation Programme and S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.
Yi Xiaozhun, WTO's Deputy Director-General, said in his opening remarks that the dialogue would provide an opportunity for senior government officials in the Asia-Pacific region to exchange views and brainstorm on issues and challenges confronting the Multilateral Trading System, in light of recent developments in the global economy.
He said the system needs to keep pace with the evolving challenges and to be improved constantly.
Yi told Xinhua on the sideline of the dialogue that the Asia-Pacific region has been considered as a top supporter of the Multilateral Trading System and free trade.
He expected that the dialogue participants could set targets and plans at the event on how the Asia-Pacific economies could communicate with other economies, including those from Africa and Latin America and the developed economies, and push them to strive for a common goal.
The MTI's Director General Ng Bee Kim said in her keynote speech that the WTO is facing three challenges, including the inability to conclude the Doha Development Agenda, the difficulty to respond quickly to emerging trends like e-commerce, and the struggle in reaching consensus to move the trade agenda forward.
