Preface

Since China’s accession in 2001 to the WTO (World Trade Organization), the country has become the world’s second largest economy and the largest trading nation, the nation with the largest foreign direct investment, and the second largest outbound investor. It plays a pivotal role in the global trading system. At present global trade growth is slow and the major economies face industrial restructuring and rising protectionism, while trade in services and other new forms of trade gradually are on the rise. As a result, the pattern of global trade faces a new historical window of opportunity. As a responsible major country, China has demonstrated its enterprise by proposing the Belt and Road Initiative to boost global trade development and economic restructuring.

The Belt and Road Initiative is composed of five“links” (policy coordination, facilities connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration, and people-topeople bond). Of these, unimpeded trade is the key coordinating the development of the others. As new features and new trends in international trade become apparent, China takes full advantage of its own position of importance in world trade, ready to open up new trade space through the Belt and Road Initiative by facilitating trade, building a global network of trade parks, enhancing a new model of trade cooperation, and upgrading cooperation in industrial investment. We want to contribute our own strength to the healthy development of global trade.