Deputy Director-General, World Trade Organization

Mr. YI Xiaozhun has been a Deputy Director-General at the World Trade Organization since October 2013. Yi Xiaozhun has extensive experience in world trade and economics, both as a senior government official and subsequently as China's ambassador to the WTO. He represented China as a key negotiator in China’s WTO accession process, making an important contribution to the negotiations. Prior to becoming China’s ambassador to the WTO, Mr. Yi was Assistant Minister and subsequently China’s Vice Minister of Commerce in charge of multilateral and regional trade negotiations and cooperation. Besides his contribution to China’s WTO accession, he played a leading role in negotiating numerous free trade agreements (FTAs), including the China-ASEAN agreement, China’s first FTA. He also worked as a diplomat at the Chinese Embassy in the United States from 1987 to 1992. Mr. Yi obtained a Master’s degree in economics from Nankai University in China in 1999.