Goldman Sachs Chairman Visits CCIEE

On the morning of March 25, 2010, Zeng Peiyan, Chairman of CCIEE, met with Peter Sutherland, Chairman of Goldman Sachs and former Director-General of the WTO. Zheng Xinli, Permanent Vice Chairman, also attended the meeting.

Mr. Zeng praised Goldman Sachs for its good performance during the financial crisis. Mr. Sutehrland said that while RMB appreciation is a hot issue in the U.S right now, he is more interested in how Europe will cope with Greece’s sovereign debt crisis and stabilize the Euro,  as well as rising trade protectionism around the world. Mr. Zeng said that due to Chinese government’s readjustment of exchange rate since 2005, the RMB has appreciated 21% against the US dollar and 14% against the Euro. He added that in the era of globalized economy, a country’s exchange rate should be determined by its economic development and international economy. From the second half of 2008 to the beginning of 2009, he said, China acted responsibly by stabilizing the exchange rate of RMB exchange, which contributed to world economic stability.   

Mr. Zeng noted that China greatly values the role of WTO plays, has always supported the Doha talks, and hopes that an agreement will be reached soon. He said that trade protectionism is not the best solution to the problems confronting many countries because it will only do more damage to world economy. If, in darkest hours of financial crisis, major countries could manage to negotiate with each other, he said, then they should not frequently resort to anti-dumping and trade sanctions now, because world economy has just started to recover. He cautioned that given the fragile state of world economy, it could hit the bottom again if countries don’t cooperate with each other.

Mr. Sutherland agreed with Mr. Zeng’s views, saying that countries should act in accordance with WTO rules, safeguard its reputation, and avoid conflict and confusion. Moreover, he said that though bilateral negotiation is the primary means to solving problems, world economic development will rely more on WTO and multilateral coordination, hoping that china will play a more important role in the WTO in the future.