| Statement by Minister Zhang Xiangchen of China at TPR meeting of Brazil |
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| Tuesday,March 10,2009 Posted: 18:09 BJT(09 GMT) |
| From:wto Article type:Original |
9 March 2009
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
First of all, I would like to welcome the Brazilian delegation headed by H. E. Ambassador Azevedo and thank them for their hard work. My gratitude also goes to the discussant H. E. Ambassador Noor and the secretariat, whose contributions have laid down a sound basis for this trade policy review. We note that this meeting is of particular importance, held against the background of a spreading and deepening global financial crisis. And we hope as part of our objectives against this particular background, this review will help Members better understand and learn from Brazil’s counter measures to the crisis.
Mr. Chairman, Brazil is one of China’s most important trading partners, and the past few years have witnessed a rapid development in bilateral trade and economic cooperation. According to our statistics, in 2008, despite the global financial crisis, our bilateral trade amounted to 48.5 billion US dollars, representing a 63.2% growth over the previous year, and almost four times that of the year 2004. In that year, President Hu Jintao and President Lula paid fruitful visits to each other. A few weeks ago, Chinese vice president Xi Jinping paid another successful and productive visit to Brazil, during which a number of cooperation projects were signed. We believe that these projects will bring a new momentum to further enhance our trade and economic cooperation and serve as an example of our concerted efforts to help deal with the financial crisis.
China believes that coordination at the international level is essential in order to overcome the difficult times ahead. We appreciate Brazil’s positive attitude towards the multilateral trading system and the Doha Round, as presented in Brazil’s report, which is helpful in warding off the risky tendency of protectionism. Ambassador Azevedo and his team in Geneva have been playing a leading role in the negotiations. China shares a lot of common positions with Brazil, and would like to thank Brazil for its leadership of the G20 in Doha agricultural negotiations.
Mr. Chairman, On Brazil’s trade related policies and measures, China has submitted a number of questions, which mainly focus on tariffs, anti-dumping measures, export insurance, TBT related issues, etc. Our enterprises also noticed, from the Report by the Secretariat, that Brazil is increasing its average tariff protection. We hope that our questions will be answered in good time, and our concerns will be addressed properly. China understands the difficulties of Brazil and hopes that Brazil will deal with the crisis in a reasonable way, within the framework of the multilateral trading system, and in accordance with the spirit of the G20 Washington Summit. We wish Brazil a successful trade policy review.
Last but not the least, warm congratulations to you for being elected as Chair of this important Body. Please be assured of our whole-hearted support.
Thank you, Chair.
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