Minister: China will play active role in new WTO talks

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, March 16, 2004

Minister: China will play active role in new WTO talks

Chinese top trade official Bo Xilai said Monday, March 15, that China will play an active role in the new round of World Trade Organization (WTO) talks.

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Chinese top trade official Bo Xilai said Monday that China will play an active role in the new round of World Trade Organization (WTO) talks.

Bo, minister of commerce, said in a meeting with EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy that China supports the multilateral trade mechanism and will make joint efforts with the European Union and other sides to seek progress in the new round of talks.

China earnestly implemented its commitment made on its entry into the WTO and Chinese external trade and economic cooperation witnessed huge progress after its accession to the WTO two years ago, Bo said.

China will continue cooperation with its partners worldwide and expand trade relationships with them, the minister said.

The WTO triggered its new talks, the Doha Development Agenda (DDA), in 2001, but the progress stagnated, especially after the ministerial meeting held in Cancun, Mexico last September collapsed.

China holds an unswerving stance in maintaining the multilateral trade mechanism, pushing forward the new round of WTO talks and closely coordinating and cooperating with all the concerned sides, Bo said.

"We hope that the DDA could be pushed forward and the multilateral trade mechanism could be further perfected," Bo said.

Bo briefed Lamy on China's stance on key themes of the DDA, such as the agriculture issue and industrial goods tariff.

As a developing country and new member of the WTO, China's concern in the DDA should be considered by the other members, Bo said.

The EU trade commissioner said a multilateral trade mechanism remains vital to world trade and the European Union hopes China could play an active role in promoting the new talks.

"There is a common consensus that we have to get things moving in the coming weeks -- not the coming years, not the coming months,but the coming weeks," Lamy said after the meeting.

The two sides also exchanged views on bilateral issues.

Bo urged the EU to grant China full market economy status at anearly date, noting that that was promised by EU President Romano Prodi last year during his visit to China.

The Chinese minister also mentioned the impact on Sino-EU trade brought by the expansion of the EU, which will add 10 new members this year.

The new members, mostly eastern European countries, will enjoy the free trade facility with the existing EU members and Chinese exports to the EU might be reduced, analysts said.

The EU understands China's stance on the full market economy status, Lamy said, adding the EU will negotiate with China on the impact on EU-China trade caused by the EU's expansion.

The European Union, which recorded over 100 billion US dollars in trade with China last year, was China's third largest trade partner, the sixth largest source of foreign direct investment andthe second largest source of technology.

Source: Xinhua

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