WTO meeting pushes for cooperation to tackle plastic pollution
Xinhua News Agency, Geneva, May 25 (Reporter Chen Binjie) The World Trade Organization held a working meeting on "Plastic pollution and environmentally sustainable plastic trade Informal Dialogue" in Geneva, Switzerland, on the 25th to promote exchanges and cooperation with the International Bamboo and Vine Organization's "Bamboo instead of plastic" initiative.
The working meeting was co-chaired by Li Chenggang, Permanent Representative of China to the WTO, and Omar Zniebel, Permanent representative of Morocco to the United Nations Office at Geneva and other international organizations in Switzerland. Mr. Lu Wenming, Deputy Director General of the International Bamboo and Vine Organization, was invited to attend the meeting and introduced the initiative of "Replacing Plastic with Bamboo" jointly launched by the International Bamboo and Vine Organization and the Chinese government. The International Bamboo and Rattan Organization also held a small exhibition of "bamboo instead of plastic" products at the WTO. Lu Wenming said that bamboo, as a green, low-carbon, fast-growing, renewable and degradable biomass material, can play a unique role in a series of global challenges such as replacing plastics, tackling climate change and alleviating poverty. It is hoped that the "Bamboo instead of plastic" initiative will be incorporated into the policy system at different levels such as the international, regional and national levels, so as to provide policy guarantee for the global development of "Bamboo instead of plastic".
During the conference, more than 130 representatives from WTO members, international organizations and think tanks exchanged views on how to reach an outcome consensus from the trade side and jointly tackle plastic pollution.
Matthew Wilson, Permanent Representative of Barbados to the WTO, said that strengthening cooperation with the International Bamboo and Rattan Organization is an important part of the WTO's "Informal Dialogue on Plastic Pollution and Environmentally Sustainable Plastics Trade".
China is the initiator and one of the six co-coordinators of the Informal Dialogue on Plastic Pollution and Environmentally Sustainable Plastics Trade at the WTO. The initiative has attracted 76 WTO members to participate in the joint signing, covering 85 percent of the global plastics trade. One of the core topics of the initiative is to facilitate and promote the trade of plastic substitutes, which coincides with the concept of "replacing Plastics with bamboo".