The Sino-US agreement on China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) represents a milestone in China's political and economic development, Ming Pao, one of the major dailies in Hong Kong, said in Hong Kong on November 16.

The move will enable the Chinese economy to further integrate with that of the world, the newspaper said.

The English newspaper South China Morning Post described the agreement "historic," saying it will pave the way for China to join the world's principal trade body.

Hong Kong Standard, another English daily here, said, "The benefits will be far-reaching -- enough to take China from a byway onto the superhighway to becoming a modern state."

The accord, signed Monday after 13 years of hard bargaining, will virtually end the decade-old annual debates in the US Congress on China's trade status, the paper said in an editorial.

The Hong Kong Trade Development Council also expressed welcome to the agreement, which it said "would hasten China's accession to the World Trade Organization."

As the mainland is the largest trading partner of Hong Kong, "China's WTO entry will usher in a new era of growth and dynamism for Hong Kong," Victor K. Fung, chairman of the council, said in a press release.

China's interior trade with Hong Kong totaled 133.8 billion US dollars in 1998, accounting for 38 percent of Hong Kong's total external trade.

Hong Kong's economic success is to a significant extent a result of China's economic reforms and opening up, the council said.

The signing of the agreement pushed Hong Kong's blue-chip Hang Seng Index 372.55 points, or 2.62 percent up to close at 14,562.22 Monday, the highest level since October 8, 1997.