China stands for improving multilateral trade system: official

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, November 20, 2003

China stands for improving multilateral trade system: official

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China expects the multilateral trade mechanism to be further enhanced and improved, and is willing to play a positive role in the new round of the World Trade Organization (WTO) talks, Chinese Ambassador to WTO Sun Zhenyu said here Wednesday.

He made the remarks at the International Symposium on Legal Issues in WTO Doha Agenda that began on Wednesday. The three-day symposium was sponsored by the Ministry of Commerce, the Asian Development Bank and the Shanghai municipal government.

WTO meetings usually encounter protests from local people against globalization. In China, however, even though criticism against the WTO remains, the general view about the entry into the organization is positive because the Chinese people hold that it is the opening-up and reform policy that has ensured the continuous economic development and rising standards of living during the past decades, Sun said.

China will support the resumption of the new round talks as soon as possible in spite of the Cancun failure and expects that WTO members will restore confidence and increase trust so that the talks can be carried out smoothly, he said.

Sun said that as a WTO new member, China values the opportunity to participate in the new round of talks and has lodged written suggestions in the fields of agricultural negotiation, non-agricultural products negotiation, service trade, dispute settlement and regulation negotiation.

China attaches importance to the agricultural issues considered key to the new round of talks. China's positions on the issues are, in many aspects, close to those of the Cairns Group of Agriculture Exporting Countries, he said.

The Cairns Group is made up of more than ten countries including Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and Thailand.

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