On July 26, the 27th round of the plenary session of Trade Negotiations Committee on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) kicked off in Zhengzhou, Henan. Vice Minister of Commerce and Deputy China International Trade Representative Wang Shouwen attended the opening ceremony and delivered a speech.

Wang Shouwen said that RCEP is the most important free trade agreement negotiation in East Asia. According to the goal of ending negotiations in 2019 which was established by the second RCEP Leaders Meeting, all parties should make full use of the good momentum of the accelerating negotiation process, continue to strengthen efforts in the negotiations, propose solutions to the remaining problems and prepare for a successful RCEP ministerial meeting to be held in Beijing in early August.

Wang Shouwen said that as an active participant in the RCEP negotiations, China firmly supports ASEAN's leading role in the negotiations and is willing to play an active and constructive role in accelerating the negotiations. China is adopting a series of major reform and opening up measures, strengthening institutional and structural arrangements, and promoting a higher level opening up. This will provide strong support for China to better participate in the RCEP negotiations.

Before the opening ceremony, Wang Guosheng, Secretary of the Henan Provincial Party Committee and Director of the Standing Committee of the Provincial People's Congress, met with the chairman of the RCEP Trade Negotiation Committee and the chief negotiators of all parties. Governor of Henan Province Chen Runer attended the opening ceremony and delivered a speech.