On Mar. 22, 2013, Prof. CHEN Yulu, President of RUC met with Mr. Pascal LAMY, Director-General of WTO. Mr. LAMY later gave to the students and faculty of RUC a speech themed “Opportunities and Challenges of Multilateral Trade System”. Prof. CHEN first welcomed Mr. LAMY, and then informed him of the news that RUC ranks third among all Chinese Universities in the latest Discipline Evaluation with nine first-tier disciplines ranking No. 1. Mr. LAMY congratulated RUC on its achievement and expressed WTO’s willingness to carry out collaborative research programs with RUC in relevant fields. After the meeting, Associate Prof. CHENG Dawei from the School of Economics moderated the speech session. In the speech themed “Opportunities and Challenges of Multilateral Trade System”, Mr. LAMY began by introducing the history of WTO and its important role in promoting free trade and reducing tariffs.   Moreover, he talked about four challenges facing WTO. First, a new power structure has emerged in WTO, but a new equilibrium is yet to be established. Second, the rapidly changing pattern of global production and its implications present new requirements on policy-making. Third, whether WTO can keep pace with the rapid development of trade remains to be seen. Fourth, the proliferation of bilateral and regional free trade agreement has significant impact on WTO. In his speech, Mr. LAMY also compared WTO to an old bus, and PTAs (Preferential Treaty Agreement) fancy cars. Though WTO is slow, it provides reliable services for all its members in every corner of the world. What WTO needs to do is to make the “bus” more efficient. During the Q&A session followed, professors and students of RUC raised many questions concerning the core issues and dilemma in Doha round negotiations, USA’s role in WTO, and the solution mechanism of trade friction among nations. Mr. LAMY patiently gave detailed answers to all these questions. The guest visitors accompanying Mr. Pascal LAMY were: Mr. SUN Zhenyu,  Chairman of China Society for WTO Studies (CWTO), former Vice Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (MOFTEC), and first Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and Permanent Representative of PRC to WTO;  Mr. REN Yifeng, Deputy Secretary-General, CWTO; as well as Mr. WANG Xiaodong, Special Counselor to the Director-General, WTO. Prof. YI Zhihong, Vice-President for International Affairs; Prof. TANG Zhong, Director of the International Office; Prof. YANG Ruilong, Dean of the School of Economics; among other Renmin professors and students, also attended the event.