The first session of “DRC Chair” is held in March 2019. [photo/drc.gov.cn]

In order to build a high-end communication platform featuring knowledge sharing, exchange of ideas, and speeches by famous people, the Development Research Center of the State Council (DRC) launched the “DRC Chair” in March 2019.

The first session of “DRC Chair” is held in March 2019. [photo/drc.gov.cn]

DRC Chair adheres to the international, high-level and high-quality orientation towards the policy and academic frontier. It invites high-level officials from home and abroad, former political figures, leaders of international organizations, heads of important think tanks, famous experts and scholars, and leaders of well-known multinational corporations to deliver speeches on major issues and hot topics on global and China's economic and social development. It will hold international leading academic lectures and policy dialogues to help share wisdom and build consensus among global political circles, international organizations, think tanks, and academic and business circles to provide intellectual support for central authorities' decision making.

New York University and Stanford University Professor Michael Spence speaks at the event. [photo/drc.gov.cn]

The first session of the DRC Chair was held on the afternoon of March 22, 2019. Four Nobel laureates in economics delivered speeches on the topic of "Multilateral Trading System and WTO Reform". They are New York University and Stanford University Professor Michael Spence, London School of Economics and Political Science Professor Christopher Pissarides, Columbia University Professor Edmund Phelps and Joseph Stiglitz.

Professor Christopher Pissarides speaks at the event. [photo/drc.gov.cn]

The four foreign experts believe that the WTO-based multilateral trading system faces severe challenges such as inefficient decision-making, inability to adapt to new changes in the global economy, politicization of trade issues, distortion of intellectual property policies, and uneven benefits for all parties, but the WTO still has an irreplaceable positive role that cannot be easily abandoned. The organization needs the major economies of the world to jointly promote its reforms and continuously improve its governance mechanisms.

Professor Edmund Phelps speaks at the event. [photo/drc.gov.cn]

Professor Joseph Stiglitz speaks at the event. [photo/drc.gov.cn]