BlackBerry CEO: WTO system should be more inclusive

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By CGTN's World Insight

This year’s Boao Forum is bringing topics such as intellectual property rights and the future of technology to the top of the discussion.

John Chen, the executive chairman and chief executive officer of BlackBerry, speaks on the recent talks on the China-US trade dispute. After working for a decade in the tech industry, Chen shared his opinion with CGTN's Tian Wei.

John Chen, the executive chairman and chief executive officer of BlackBerry, speaks on CGTN's World Insight. /CGTN Photo

Chen said it is necessary to improve the imperfection of WTO system. He feels the WTO system doesn't favor the small businesses, and the larger corporations have enormous resources that can drive the government. Therefore, he thinks the WTO should be more inclusive, "because that's structurally the most sensible. "

He continued, saying that startups are at a disadvantage. Even though they may have alliance or associations, for example "if you got a meeting with the association or the chamber, they have many different maters to answer, it's not like one person would say we need to do this, and everybody says, 'yes.'"

Chen concluded that the decision-making process takes too long to process, and it cost too much money. " I think that should be streamlined," he added. "I would support changing modernizing to WTO system to settle a lot of disputes like trade, but it needs to be faster, and it needs to be more inclusive."

World Insight with Tian Wei is a 45-minute global affairs and debate show on CGTN. It airs weekdays at 10:15 p.m. BJT (1415GMT), with rebroadcasts at 4:15 a.m. BJT (2015GMT).