2021 marks the 20th anniversary of China's accession to the WTO, and China has gone ahead at full throttle on the globalization for 20 years. On the afternoon of June 4th, Tatiana Prazeres, Former Senior Advisor to the WTO Director-General, was invited to give an academic lecture on the theme of "The Future of WTO and The Role of China" for CIWTO faculty and students, and conducted in-depth conversations and discussions on major issues such as the prospect of WTO reform and China's role. More than 40 teachers and students participated, and Professor Tu Xinquan presided over the lecture.

In recent years, with the upsurge of trade protectionism and the obstruction of the multilateral system by some developed countries, WTO is facing severe challenges. Tatiana shared her own insights from the crisis and challenges faced by WTO, and pointed out that the ideal direction of WTO reform is to revitalize the negotiation function, improve the binding dispute settlement mechanism, so that the WTO can play a better role as a forum for monitoring and discussing trade policies. China has always been committed to supporting the multilateral trading system based on the WTO and curbing unilateralism and discriminatory measures. At present, there is a lack of consensus among WTO members and a common vision for the future of WTO. The future reform of WTO requires all bodies to work together and rebuild mutual trust.

Subsequently, CIWTO faculty and students discussed in depth with Tatiana on the promotion of investment facilitation measures, the impact of RCEP agreement on WTO negotiations, as well as the direction of carbon tariff policy adjustment. The collision of ideas between Chinese and foreign scholars make everyone feel the obstacles facing the WTO in a tangible way. At the same time, it’s believed that China will always maintain a proactive attitude and provides the backbone support for creating a better governance environment for the development of world trade.

Translator: ZHANG Xiangyi

Reviewer: DU Yingxin