"Today, on the same day as Europe meets China in Beijing, American President Trump and Russian President Putin will talk in Helsinki. We are all aware of the fact that the architecture of the world is changing before our very eyes. And it is our common responsibility to make it a change for the better… It is a common duty of Europe and China, America and Russia, not to destroy this order, but to improve it," Tusk told Li, as cited by the EU press service.
Tusk called on Beijing, Washington and Moscow to start the process of building such a world order by reforming the World Trade Organization (WTO) and expressed the EU commitment to modernize the institution.
"We propose a comprehensive approach to improving, together with like-minded partners, the functioning of the WTO in crucial areas. We need new rules in the field of industrial subsidies, intellectual property and forced technology transfers, reduction of trade costs, as well as a new approach to development and more effective dispute settlement," Tusk concluded.
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Earlier in the day, Tusk met China's head of government Li Keqiang in Beijing to discuss the EU-China partnership as well as the North Korean and Ukrainian issues.
Putin and Trump are expected to discuss a wide range of issues of international importance, including Syria, Ukraine and denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. They will start a tete-a-tete with the presence of interpreters at about 1 p.m. local time (10:00 GMT).