The business circles in south China's Guangdong Province November 15 welcomed the Sino-US agreement on China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Businessmen in the province, whose foreign trade makes up 40 percent of the country's total, expressed their satisfaction after learning the news of the agreement, saying that it will accelerate the process of China's WTO accession and will more closely connect China and the world economy.

At the forefront of China's reform and opening up, Guangdong has maintained a high growth rate in the past two decades. Currently, the province has more than 60,000 foreign-invested enterprises and its foreign trade value reached 130 billion US dollars last year. The province's gross domestic product (GDP) accounted for 10 percent of China's.

"It is not only an opportunity but also a challenge for China to enter the WTO, and we have to increase our competitiveness," said Shi Yilun, general manager of Guangdong Food Import and Export Group.

Huang Zhiyong, manager of the overseas marketing department of the Guangdong Kelong Group, said that it's not such a bad idea to let foreign companies and products to enter China's market.

"We should not be afraid to face market competition," Huang said.

The household appliance group achieved a 30 percent annual growth rate in fierce market competition over the past 15 years. " We realized that competition will help us gain more success," Huang said.

For Huang Peilian, general manager of the Zhuhai Lizhu Pharmaceutical Group Ltd. Com., the entry into WTO is a test of the company's technology, management and marketing expertise. "We can learn a lot from foreign firms in competition," Huang said.

Xu Zhuoyun, a well-known economist in the province, theorized that China's entry into WTO will have a different impact on different industries. The capital-intensive industries will be affected more than labor-intensive ones.

China's telecom and financial industries, the most influenced by today's development, must adjust their management policies and improve service quality. And the country's agricultural policies should also be regulated to promote agricultural technology development and increase competitiveness in the sector, said the economist. (Xinhua)