WTO members call for multilateral trade support

Enhanced joint efforts are needed to support a rule-based multilateral trading system and facilitate investment around the world, officials from WTO member countries said on Tuesday.

Over 200 attendees, including ministers or representatives from 33 World Trade Organization members and WTO director-general Roberto Azevedo, were invited to the small-scale ministerial meeting in Shanghai. It was the second time China had held such an event since it joined the WTO in 2001.

In the meeting, ministers or their representatives agreed that the rule-based multilateral trading system should be firmly supported, and international trade should play a role in driving economic growth, job creation and sustainable development, according to a statement from China's Ministry of Commerce.