SCIO briefing on the provision of key medical supplies and daily necessities for epidemic prevention and control

CNBC:

Many provinces in China announced that the resumption of production would not take place before Feb. 10, and some enterprises have suspended operations. According to statistics acquired by CNBC, exports from these provinces accounted for over 90% of China's total exports. My question is how all of this is affecting international supply chains. Thank you.

Wang Bingnan:

Thank you for your question. We all know that every January China's imports and exports face greater variation than in other months because of the effect of the Spring Festival holidays. Most foreign trade enterprises resume production and ship their goods and services after the 15th day of the first Lunar month. The novel conoravirus outbreak happened during the holidays, and we have been keeping a close eye on the situation. The Ministry of Commerce has discovered that many foreign trade enterprises are rapidly resuming operations, various departments and local governments are fighting against the epidemic caused by the novel conoravirus and implementing targeted measures to improve the business environment and ease the burdens of all businesses. One perfect example from yesterday's news - the Suzhou municipal government in Jiangsu province introduced 10 policies to support small and medium-sized businesses affected by the epidemic. Actually, China's central authorities and local governments at all levels are now rolling out targeted policies to stimulate exports.

In the context of the overall sluggish growth in global trade, the international community should work together to overcome these difficulties through concerted efforts. The World Health Organization (WHO) believes that China's epidemic prevention and control work is outstanding, that letters and packages from China are safe, and it opposes imposing travel or trade restrictions on China. We are confident that we can effectively contain the epidemic and finally overcome it. We also believe that governments and market entities at every link of the global supply chain will facilitate trade of China's products and services as well as for the commodities China imports. Thank you.