China has signed 19 free trade agreements with 25 countries co-building the Belt and Road Initiative

China News Service, Beijing, November 11 (Reporter Wang Enbo) Song Lihong, a first-level inspector of the Comprehensive Affairs Department of the Ministry of Commerce of China, said in Beijing on the 11th that so far, China has signed 19 free trade agreements with 25 countries co-building the "Belt and Road".

The National Development and Reform Commission held a series of press conferences on the "15th Five-Year Plan" on the same day to introduce the situation related to the joint construction of the "Belt and Road". Song Lihong said at the meeting that during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, China will work with co-building countries to improve international economic and trade rules and further promote and ensure the high-quality development of the "Belt and Road" initiative.

He emphasized that the World Trade Organization is an important pillar of multilateralism and an important stage for global economic governance. China will strengthen coordination with co-building countries, jointly safeguard the multilateral trading system, promote WTO reform, safeguard most-favored-nation treatment and other principles, actively explore and formulate new rules for the future, and promote the WTO to play a greater role in global economic governance.

Song Lihong also mentioned that China will continue to promote the negotiation and signing of economic partnership agreements for common development with African countries that have diplomatic relations, promote the early entry into force of version 3.0 of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area and the upgrade protocol of the China-Georgia Free Trade Agreement, accelerate free trade negotiations or upgrades with relevant co-building countries in Central Asia and the Pacific, promote the expansion and upgrading of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement to achieve positive results as soon as possible, strengthen cooperation in new areas with co-building countries, and actively improve rules in fields such as digital economy and green development.

Focusing on the construction of the "Belt and Road" high-level investment agreement corridor, Song Lihong said that currently, China and co-building countries have signed 92 bilateral investment agreements that have entered into force, providing a strong legal guarantee for the promotion and protection of two-way investment. In the next step, China will continue to negotiate and upgrade investment agreements with co-building countries, further improve international economic and trade rules in the investment field, strengthen investment protection, and promote investment liberalization and facilitation. (over)