From Our
Correspondent
BEIJING: As the strenuous global battle against the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing economic recession is well underway, China has managed to place the pandemic under full control domestically and continued to buoy up the world with its robust recovery, consistent overseas assistance and global cooperation.
The ongoing 2020 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) highlights China’s success in the combat against COVID-19, said World Trade Organization (WTO) Deputy Director-General Yi Xiaozhun in his online speech for the event’s opening on Friday.
China is a driving force of world economy and increasingly plays an important role as supply-demand hub in services trade, Yi said, adding that China can positively influence and significantly contribute to international cooperation by supporting and advancing the services agenda of the WTO.
The country’s success in controlling COVID-19 has allowed its economy to revive steadily, as shown by a slew of upbeat data recently.
For instance, in the first seven months of the year, China’s pilot free trade zones (FTZs) attracted robust foreign investment and trade despite downcast sentiment in the global market, data of the country’s Ministry of Commerce showed.
The six pilot FTZs in the regions of Shandong, Jiangsu, Guangxi, Hebei, Yunnan and Heilongjiang, as well as Shanghai’s Lingang Area, a newly launched section of the Shanghai FTZ, attracted 13.11 billion yuan (about 1.9 billion U.S. dollars) of foreign investment during the January-July period.
Foreign trade in those FTZs came in at 660.76 billion yuan (about 90.5 billion dollars) in the seven-month period, accounting for 10.8 percent of the total foreign trade in the regions.
On the other hand, the Belt and Road, serving as an international platform for cooperation, has played a vital role in assisting the global anti-pandemic fight and stabilizing global supply and industrial chains.
