By staff reporter ZHANG HUI
ON the morning of September 3, Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen presented at the BRICS meeting press conference to give an introduction on the economic and trade cooperation among BRICS countries and answered questions from reporters.
He introduced the eight achievements at the 7th Meeting of the BRICS Trade Ministers, including the approval of the BRICS Model E-Port Network, trade in service cooperation roadmap, e-commerce cooperation initiative, intellectual property cooperation guideline, outline for investment facilitation, framework on strengthening the economic and technical cooperation for BRICS countries, and the agreement of supporting a multilateral trade system against trade protectionism, as well as the announcement of the China International Import Fair to be held in the next year.
On why and how to build the E-Port Network, Vice Minister Wang Shouwen said, "The five BRICS countries are far apart in distance, and most of the cargoes are transported by ocean shipping, therefore the direct connectivity of different ports can improve efficiency and save transaction cost. The Model E-Port Network aims to bring more ports of BRICS countries to participate and exchange their successful experience, such as exchange and sharing of electronic trade data among ports."
He further disclosed that training classes on the network will be held, inviting experts in areas of customs, shipping, and information technology to share their best practice experiences.
According to the vice minister, the BRICS Model E-port Network will operate on the basis of the Asia-Pacific Model E-Port Network under the framework of APEC, whose operation center is located in Shanghai and has been in smooth operation for three years. Nowadays, 14 ports in 10 of the 21 APEC members have joined in the network, and the Xiamen port is one of them. Just this September, a special training class will be convened in Xiamen with experts sharing their knowledge and experience.
In conclusion, the vice minister emphasized that the building of the BRICS Model E-port Network will surely improve the connectivity of ports among the five nations, enhance the efficiency of their supply chain, and promote healthy economic and trade development.