G20 china_web

Spotlight on China
The G20 Summit will be held in Hangzhou,
China, on 4–5 September 2016. High on the
agenda will be robust international trade
and investment. At present, the underlying
impact of the international financial
crisis is casting a long shadow over the global
economic recovery and growth. International trade,
stuck at a low level, has been outstripped by world
economic growth for four consecutive years, while
international investment has yet to bounce back
to pre-crisis levels. The international community
expects the G20 to play a leading role in tackling
prominent global issues and invigorating the global
economic recovery and growth.
Positive and practical outcomes
In recent years, as the G20’s mission has evolved from
crisis response to long-term governance. Trade and
investment have assumed an increasingly important
role. At the Antalya Summit in 2015, President Xi
Jinping, together with other G20 leaders, asked
G20 trade ministers to meet regularly and agreed to
set up a supporting working group. Following the
leaders’ instruction, China and other G20 members
established the G20 Trade and Investment Working
Group (TIWG) in 2016, which has thus far held four
meetings. On 9–10 July, China successfully held
the first institutionalised G20 trade ministers
meeting in Shanghai and released the first G20
Trade Ministers Meeting Statement, capturing
numerous breakthroughs on various topics. This
laid a solid foundation for the Hangzhou Summit
to deliver positive and practical outcomes on trade
and investment.
At the Hangzhou Summit, leaders have the potential
to achieve historic trade and economic outcomes in the
following five aspects.
First, endorse the terms of reference of the TIWG,
institutionalising cooperation on trade and investment
policy among G20 members. During China’s
presidency, the TIWG was created and important
consensus was reached regarding implementing
the leaders’ instructions at the Antalya Summit to
strengthen trade and investment cooperation and
hold regular trade ministers’ meetings. At this summit,
leaders are expected to endorse the TIWG’s terms of
reference, which were proposed and drafted by China
and define the scope of discussion and organisational
matters. These will provide a stable institutional
guarantee for the G20 in playing a greater role in
global economic governance and promoting trade and
investment growth.
Second, endorse the G20 Strategy for Global Trade
Growth (SGTG), charting the course for promoting
sustainable global trade and economic growth. The
SGTG sets out seven cooperation pillars: lowering
trade costs, harnessing trade and investment policy
Gao Hucheng
Minister of Commerce, People’s Republic of China
coherence, boosting trade in services, enhancing trade
finance, developing a world trade outlook indicator,
promoting e-commerce development, and addressing
trade and development. It lays out targeted action
plans. Leaders are also expected to welcome the B20’s
initiative on an Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP)
and the World Trade Organization’s (WTO’s) World
Trade Outlook Indicator.
Third, endorse the G20 Guiding Principles for
Global Investment Policymaking, making a historic
contribution to strengthening global investment policy
coordination. This document sets out nine principles,
including opposing protectionism in relation to
cross-border investment; establishing open, nondiscriminatory,
transparent and predictable investment
conditions for investment; providing strong protection
to investors and investments; and ensuring transparent
policymaking. Being the world’s first guiding document
on investment policy, the guiding principles set out
an overall framework for global investment rules, and
serve as long-term institutional guidance for boosting
global investment growth.
Fourth, firmly support the multilateral trading
system and actively advance the WTO’s Doha
Development Agenda negotiations. At this summit,
leaders will explicitly oppose trade protectionism
and agree to extend their commitment to standstill
and rollback protectionist measures until the end of
2018. They will agree to enhance the transparency of
regional trade agreements and pledge to ratify the Trade
Facilitation Agreement by the end of 2016. Leaders
will also agree to continue to send political signals to
advance the negotiations on the remaining Doha issues
and to explore the possibility of initiating discussions
on potential new issues of common interest and
importance to the global economy.
Fifth, help developing countries and small and
medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) integrate into global
value chains by adopting comprehensive measures. To
ensure a better share of the gains from globalisation
for developing countries and SMEs, this summit will
agree to carry out capacity building and other activities
to advance the inclusive and coordinated development
of global value chains and achieve balanced and
sustainable global economic growth. By doing so,
the summit will make a tangible contribution to the
implementation of the WTO’s Nairobi declaration on
helping least developed countries better integrate into
global trade and the United Nations 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development.
Working together
As the G20 host in 2016, China looks forward to working
together with other G20 members to jointly develop
a trade and investment mechanism, improve global
economic governance and make a greater contribution
towards an open world economy. G20
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