On July 2 local time, Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao and UK Secretary of State for Business and Trade Peter Kyle co-chaired the 15th meeting of the China-UK Joint Economic and Trade Commission (JETCO) in London. The two sides had an in-depth exchange of views on trade, investment, and regional and multilateral cooperation.

Wang Wentao stated that early this year, the leaders of China and the UK reached important common understandings on developing a long-term and stable China-UK comprehensive strategic partnership, charting the course for bilateral economic and trade cooperation. The two sides should fully leverage the role of the JETCO mechanism to further advance trade and investment cooperation. China welcomes the UK as a feature country for this year’s “Export to China” series of events and will actively increase imports of quality products from the country. China is ready to accelerate the joint feasibility study on a trade in services agreement with the UK, so as to create favorable conditions for further elevating bilateral cooperation in trade in services. China welcomes UK enterprises to expand their investment in China and hopes that the country will provide a fair, just, and non-discriminatory environment for Chinese enterprises investing in the UK. As two important members of the WTO, China and the UK should work together to implement the outcomes of the 14th WTO Ministerial Conference. China expresses serious concern over the UK’s steel quota measures which took effect on July 1, hoping that the country will adjust these measures as soon as possible to ensure their compliance with WTO rules.

Peter Kyle noted that economic and trade cooperation is an important pillar of UK-China relations. China’s vigorous development of the services sector offers significant opportunities for UK businesses. The country stands ready to strengthen policy communication with China and expand cooperation in the services sector through the bilateral services partnership and the feasibility study on a bilateral trade in services agreement. The UK welcomes Chinese enterprises to invest in the country and is ready to provide greater certainty and predictability. The UK is also ready to work with China to make good use of the Joint Working Group on the WTO, enhance policy communication and coordination, and promote progress on issues such as WTO reform and e-commerce.

The two sides spoke highly of the progress made by working groups under the JETCO in areas including investment, trade in services, export controls, WTO affairs, and aviation, and expressed the expectation that these working groups will play a greater role in advancing the development of bilateral economic and trade relations.

Prior to the meeting, Wang Wentao and Peter Kyle exchanged views with from Chinese and UK business representatives. (Released on July 3)