President Xi Jinping has met with Roberto Azevedo, the Director General of the World Trade Organization, in Saint Petersburg, Russia. During their talks, Xi Jinping urged the WTO to play a bigger role in safeguarding and consolidating a multilateral trade mechanism.

Xi Jinping stressed the trading platform, with the WTO at its core, will lay the foundation for trade liberalization and facilitation. He added that the mechanism cannot be replaced by any regional arrangement. He also said regional trade arrangements should also abide by the principles of transparency and inclusiveness, which should serve to supplement and boost multilateral trade rules.

The Chinese President also said he hopes Azevedo could lead the WTO to actively push the Doha round of global trade talks, firmly oppose trade protectionism and boost the liberalization and facilitation of global trade.

For his part, Azevedo echoed Xi¡¯s remarks. He also said the WTO is willing to strengthen cooperation with China, and promote the Bali meeting at the end of the year.