BEIJING, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO), ushering in a new period for the country's opening-up drive, has yielded rich win-win results for itself and the world at large over the past decade.
China, after 16 years of tiring negotiations, became the WTO's 143rd member on Dec. 11, 2001. Since then, China has reviewed over 2,300 domestic laws, regulations and departmental rules, fulfilled its commitments to the WTO in tariff and non-tariff areas, and further opened its service markets to the outside world.
China's entry into the WTO and its ensuing efforts in adapting to WTO rules have brought about tremendous and tangible benefits for the country and its people.
The past decade has witnessed China's trade volume in the world's total rises from 4.3 percent to 10.4 percent, which considerably contributed to China's average annual GDP growth of 11 percent during the period.
China's trade in goods surged to nearly 3 trillion U.S. dollars in 2010 from 509.8 billion dollars in 2001, with exports soaring by nearly five times and imports up by 4.7 times.
China, braving the backdrop of the global financial crisis, became the world's largest exporter and second-largest importer in 2009.
Rapidly ascendant exports have created numerous job opportunities and yielded incomes for rural migrant workers in small- and medium-sized export-oriented factories, particularly those in eastern China's coastal provinces.
For example, as China's garment exports in 2010 reached 130 billion dollars, or 36.9 percent of the world's total, many Chinese young women from rural or inland China, through hard work in garment factories, have not only earned their bread and but also managed to send a considerable sum of remittances back home to support their families.
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