EU, China experts defend liberalized trade

GENEVA - A number of experts and former government officials from the European Union and China stressed on Wednesday that they should find a way to safeguard and improve the multilateral trade governance system championed by the World Trade Organization.

At a roundtable discussion in Geneva sponsored jointly by two think tanks - the China Center for International Economic Exchanges and the Center for Trade and Economic Integration of the Geneva Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies - they also said China and the EU should enhance their cooperation to confront the prevailing trade protectionism and unilateralism around the world.

Zhou Xiaochuan, former Chinese central bank governor and adviser to CCIEE, said at the discussion that China always hopes to reduce trade frictions, improve the global multilateral system, and reduce the uncertainty of the global economy in a complex and dynamic environment.