Doha trade talks should be pushed forward: commerce minister

BEIJING, March 8 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Minister of Commerce Chen Deming said on Friday that the Doha round of trade talks should be further promoted in formulating new rules on world trade.

Chen said the Doha Development Agenda under the framework of the World Trade Organizations (WTO) should remain the main channel for multilateral trade talks despite the difficulties it had gone through.

"The Doha talks should be promoted with our full strength in formulating new rules on world trade," Chen told a press conference on the sidelines of China's annual legislative session.

He noted that the Doha talks have been dealing with a difficult situation over the last decade.

"The talks are in a very dangerous situation over the past five years when the world was grappling with the financial crisis. They are in need of rescue," Chen said.

The minister said he hopes the initial goals discussed at the Doha talks, trade facilitation in particular, can be achieved during the ninth WTO ministerial conference scheduled for the end of the year.

Chen said the United States has been promoting bilateral trade talks, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TTP) and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

China is also involved in talks with other Asian countries on possible free trade areas, such as the talks with Japan and the Republic of Korea, and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) talks, Chen said.

He said China holds an "open attitude" toward such regional and sub-regional negotiations due to a relative lack of success in the Doha multilateral talks.

The negotiations should not exclude the third party, Chen said. "In this way, the world economy will recover on a faster pace."