The Ministry of Commerce of China, Jilin Provincial government of China, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internat. Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and GTI Secretariat co-organized the GTI Trade and Investment Cooperation Roundtable Meeting on 30 AUG 2017 in Changchun, Jilin Province of China. The Roundtable Meeting was held to explore areas for future cooperation in trade and investment among the GTI member countries, taking the opportunity of having established the new GTI Trade and Investment Committee (14 DEC 2016) and having adopted the new GTI Strategic Action Plan 2017-2020 and the Roadmap for Trade and Investment Cooperation of GTI 2017-2020 (29 JUN 2017). Also the Roundtable Meeting was arranged as one of the side-events of the 11th China-Northeast Asia EXPO held in Changchun once every two years.

Reflecting the importance of trade and investment as the main engine for sustainable economic growth, this Roundtable Meeting, with its timing, attracted a lot of attention from diverse stakeholders in the Greater Tumen Region and Northeast Asia. Around 40 experts from GTI central and local governments, international organizations (UNESCAP, UNCITRAL, UNIDO and ADB), academia and private sector (chamber of commerce, trade and investment promotion agencies and private enterprises) showed great interests in the Roundtable Meeting and through presentation and discussions shared their deep insights on promoting trade and investment.

The participants dealt with four themes on trade and investment: 1) cross border trade and trade facilitation in Northeast Asia, 2) policy coordination on investment promotion in Northeast Asia, 3) opportunities for business-to-business cooperation in Northeast Asia and 4) transport links and corridors for connectivity in Northeast Asia. They shared the latest efforts in promoting trade and investment in their countries and regions, and suggested diverse policy recommendations (e.g. conducting pre-feasibility study for industrial park, strengthening B2B activities, tackling WTO TFA, increasing communication between private sector and government sector, etc.) for deepening GTI cooperation and creating tangible outcomes under the new framework of GTI Trade and Investment Committee (TIC).

The GTI Secretariat in cooperation with GIZ will collect all key points of the presentations and discussions during the Roundtable Meeting, and publish a final report to support the GTI member countries and GTI’s partners in designing and accelerating next step cooperation activities in trade and investment.