The European Commission and the Chinese government Wednesday ended a two-and-a-half-day negotiating session on the terms of China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The negotiations were held in "positive and constructive atmosphere" and substantive progress was made through joint efforts by both sides, European Union (EU) and China said in a joint statement.

Nevertheless, important issues remain to be resolved. To this end, the two sides agreed that another round of technical negotiations will be held in Beijing in the second half of February, the statement said.

Depending on further progress in those negotiations, EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy "stands ready to go to Beijing" to meet with Shi Guangsheng, Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, with a view to finalizing a EU-China deal on China's accession to the WTO as soon as possible, according to the statement.

During this week's talks, the Chinese team was led by Long Yongtu, Vice-Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation; the EU executive Commission's chief negotiator was Hans-Friedrich Beseler, Director-General for Trade.

Their discussions covered outstanding issues on market access in the fields of industrial goods, such as tariffs and the phasing out of quotas, and agricultural goods (tariffs and tariff-rate quotas).

A full day was also devoted to the services sector, including negotiations on such key sectors as telecommunications, financial services (banking, insurance and securities), brokerage, distribution, tourism and professional services (lawyers and accountants), the joint statement said.

They also covered certain cross-sectional issues, including trade-related investment measures, state trading and national treatment issues. (Xinhua)