China says willing to work with all sides to resume Doha Round

China is willing to work with all sides to resume the Doha Round of international free trade talks, a Ministry of Commerce spokesman said Wednesday in Beijing.

The suspension of the Doha Round was regrettable for all parties as the talks were closely related to the balanced development of the world economy, he said.

The Doha Round was suspended on Monday after key players in the World Trade Organization (WTO) failed again to reach a consensus on agricultural and industrial trade.

It was crucial for all parties to give up some economic interests so as to achieve an essential balance, said Lu Yan, a researcher with the Ministry of Commerce.

Lu said developing countries shared the same general principles as developed countries on free trade.

The basic contradiction between the two sides lay in the rate of progress and the extent of free trade, she said.

The Doha Round was launched in 2001 with the avowed aim to lift millions out of poverty through fairer trading conditions. It was billed as a once-in-a-generation chance to boost global growth.

The G-6 group -- the United States, the European Union, Australia, Japan, Brazil and India -- account for three quarters of world trade and represent a wide range of commercial interests. Consensus among them is considered crucial for a general agreement of all 149 WTO members.

Sources close to the talks said the major differences among WTO members mainly focused on agricultural and non-agricultural market access, and domestic support, but all parties were unwilling to make concessions.

WTO chief Pascal Lamy said on Monday the main blockage in the talks' suspension was agriculture, with the United States and the EU trading accusations of inflexibility on the key stumbling block of farm subsidies.

Li Zhongzhou, a senior WTO expert with the Ministry of Commerce, said the motto "no deal is better than a bad deal" was prevalent among major WTO members.

Given that the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations took nearly eight years, he noted that even if no agreements were signed this year, the Doha talks could hardly be called "a failure".

The EU would not give up on the Doha Round, EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said on Tuesday, noting that Doha would remain a central priority of EU trade policy.

"Trade liberalization negotiations tend to take years. The key is that all parties involved communicate with one another effectively and make concerted efforts to progress with negotiations," Li said.

Source: Xinhua