Vice Minister Gao,
Vice mayor,
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

I am delighted to be in China to inaugurate WTO Day at the Shanghai 2010 World Expo. Today is a day for celebration.

Celebration of the coming together of the people, the family of nations and international organisations.

Celebration of the spirit of peace, cooperation, openness and  friendship.

These are precisely the values that the World Trade Organization stands for. These are the values that China joined when it became a member of the WTO family almost ten years ago. 
   
China's historic accession to the WTO in November 2001 is among the most important events in the history of the WTO and the multilateral trading system. If I can be a bit bold in suggesting this, it is also a highly significant event in the history of modern China.

The expression “Win-Win” is a cliché. Yet, I can think of few international agreements where this phrase is more apropos.

The WTO entry of China brought enhanced credibility and made us much more a “World” Trade Organization. It raised awareness in and support for our organization across the world from academics and economists to business leaders and diplomats. To have the Middle Kingdom brought from the edges of the global economy to its very centre was a remarkable achievement for us all but specially for the Chinese people.

It was not a prize which was easily won. It took 15 years of hard work and dedication from the start of China's accession process to its completion. Some argued it took too long. Some said the process was too political and complex. Perhaps. But consider all that China undertook in becoming a WTO member.

In my view, China's membership in the WTO is best seen as part of  a process, a process which began in 1979 when Premier Deng Xiaoping began implementing his policy of opening China to the world. Agriculture may have been the first part of the economy to experience reforms, but shortly thereafter came the “open door” in which China welcomed trade and investment.

Joining the WTO was, for China, a process inextricably linked to its own domestic reforms. Opening the country to goods, services, ideas, people and capital was something China's leaders had planned for some time.

This opening of the country made the economy much more dynamic. New ideas, processes and technology streamed across China's borders.

Who could have predicted how successful this courageous reformer would have been? Since the reform measures were put in place, China has lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. The country is poised to soon become the world's second largest economy. Last year China became the world's largest exporter of manufactured goods.
   
There has been another reason why WTO membership, and even the long and sometimes frustrating accession process has helped China. Mr Deng and other Chinese leaders came to the conclusion that the reform they were implementing would always face resistance. They concluded that joining the WTO would bring China much: far greater access to other markets, the full rights of WTO membership, the ability to use the dispute settlement system and a seat at the table as new rules were written for global trade in the 21st century. But for China's leaders, WTO membership offered something more in that it underpinned and locked in the national reforms drafted and implemented over more than 20 years. The same is true today.

As the vast Chinese market has grown richer, countries as diverse as Zambia, Australia, Brazil and the United States have seen their exports to China soar. Companies who have established operations in China have profited. At a time of global economic crisis, with most of the advanced economies emerging from recession — in some cases rather unsteadily — China's high growth and strong demand for imports have been a major stabilizing factor in the world economy. For many developing countries, in Asia, but also in Africa and Latin America, the Chinese market has been vital in ensuring that growth and development efforts stay on track. China has also become an actor ready to help other poorer partners develop through aid, through trade, and through aid for trade.

This is not to say that the path of rapid growth has been without its pitfalls.  The surge of people into the coastal cities looking for work in the “new” Chinese economy has created immense challenges for local governments trying to ensure that basic infrastructure needs — adequate housing, transportation, schools and health care — were available for all.

More cars on the road, more factories on the ground and more planes in the sky have meant higher levels of greenhouse gases. The sustainability of China's growth is first and foremost a domestic challenge for China as it seeks a harmonious society. But it is also a global challenge which requires China's participation to address a global public good: the environment. 

It was less than 10 years ago that China joined the WTO, but for many of us it feels like a different era. Economically, socially, technologically and geopolitically, the world is a very different place. There are new actors on the stage. There are new forces shaping global trade in 2010. China will be very much at the centre of trade and all other global activity in the future. But the problems our planet confronts, the challenges we must meet, lie beyond the capacity even of a great power like China.

The global problems we face require global solutions. It is only collectively that we can combat climate change, promote development, ensure an adequate response to pandemics and make the global trading system more equitable and relevant for the world of today and tomorrow.
 
This is why multilateral organizations like the WTO are more important than ever, for China and for the world. This is the message that the WTO wants to promote at Expo WTO Day: getting us where we want to go and getting us there together.
   

Thank you for your attention.