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13:00-13:30 13 June 2022, Room S1
DDG Zhang,
Dear Ministers,
Excellencies, Dear colleagues,
Good Afternoon.
First of all, my warm welcome to you all to the press briefing. I would like to share some observations on the WTO Dialogue on Plastic Pollution.
Plastic is an important basic raw material, but the leakage of plastic waste into the natural environment has brought environmental pollution and harm. China attaches great importance to plastic pollution, and it is one of the earliest member to tackle this global issue. Several key regulations have been issued in recent year which deploy a number of measures in view of the whole life cycle of plastic waste management. Thanks to these efforts, China has made encouraging progress and accumulated valuable experience in reducing plastic production at source, promoting plastic substitutes, recycling and reusing of plastic material. China is ready to work with other members to share experience, explore effective models and jointly promote global efforts to curb plastic pollution.
China is honored to have participated in organizing the WTO Dialogues on Plastic Pollution since 2019. We greatly commend the active participation, support and interaction of the cosponsors, all interested WTO members and stakeholders. Over the past two and half years, the openness, inclusiveness, enthusiasm, solidarity and mutual trust demonstrated by all participators have been impressive.
Since the issuance of the Ministerial Statement back at the end of last year, we have made exciting progress together. We have conducted close interaction with other international organizations such as the UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme), the WCO (World Customs Organization) and the UNCTAD (the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development). We are exploring how to strengthen support to developing members in capacity building and technical assistance, and actively promoting the sharing of experience and practices in trade policies.
In the meantime, we note that countries and regions, and many international organizations and institutions, including the UNEA (United Nations Environment Assembly), The BRS (Basel Rotterdam Stockholm Convention), the G20, UNCTAD, APEC and OECD, are actively taking actions. At such a historic moment, especially with the UNEA resolution launching negotiations on a new treaty on plastic pollution, we believe our work at the WTO is more important than ever. WTO can play its unique role in identifying trade and value chain challenges and opportunities to inform other international processes, and taking collectively actions to support global efforts to reduce plastic pollution.
We are so glad to see that, in the past few months, Maldives, Bolivia, Angola, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Paraguay jointed this initiative. Now we have 72 cosponsors from different regions and at different stages of development. We welcome the active participation of all WTO Members, and we will continue to deepen our dialogue in line with the Ministerial Statement.
Development is the key to solving all problems. Trade, environment and development are the three main objectives of our discussion.
We will stay committed to development as a priority, benefits for all, and caring about the special needs of developing members. In line with the Ministerial Statement, we will strengthen trade-related capacity building and technical assistance to support the participation of the LDCs (least developed countries) and SIDS (small island developing States) in the dialogue to jointly address this global challenge.
We will stay committed to a people-centered approach and ensure harmony between man and nature. Trade is not only trade, but an approach to bring all the people to meet global challenges. This dialogue embodies the concept of trade for people. The poorest and most vulnerable benefit the most from environmental improvement. our dialogue has and will continue to provide a platform for trade and environment experts to discuss how to improve outcomes for sustainable economies and societies, and achieve harmonious coexistence between man and nature.
We will continue to be innovation-driven and results-oriented. This dialogue is a new initiative in the WTO. We have and will continue to maintain an open, inclusive and transparent process. We encourage discussion on new technologies, new ideas and new measures. In order to make the results of our discussion acceptable to all WTO members in the future, our proposal will be balanced, feasible and science-based. We will continue in-depth discussions, actively share practical experience and strive to translate the consensus in the ministerial statement into concrete elements and proposals.
Finally, let me once again thank all for your interest and support to IDP. And I will invite all media friends to continue to follow our work in WTO.
Thank you.
