China's Bilateral WTO Negotiations Enter Final Stage

Bilateral negotiations between China and members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) have entered the concluding stage with only 10 WTO members left for a bilateral agreement, Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Shi Guangsheng said on Monday.

Shi told a press conference held by the 3rd Session of the 9th National People's Congress (NPC) that China has already reached bilateral agreements with 27 WTO members. A total of 37 WTO members have requested to hold bilateral talks with China.

"The process of China's entry into the WTO is being accelerated," Shi said. "Of the remaining 10 WTO members with which China is to reach an agreement, most have concluded or almost concluded negotiations with China, and are waiting for the signing of agreements."

Pascal Lamy, trade commissioner of the European Union, will come to Beijing in the week beginning March 27 and hold talks with Shi to finalize a China-EU agreement, according to the minister.

"China pays great attention to the talks with the EU," he said. "We hope that the two sides can in the coming round of talks complete negotiations on the basis of equality, mutual understanding and mutual accommodation, and reach an agreement."

Over the past several months, China and the EU held two rounds of WTO talks in Brussels and Beijing respectively. Shi said those talks have resulted in "important progress." There are now few remaining issues to be resolved between the two, except what China cannot promise to any WTO member.

China's bid to enter the WTO and its predecessor has lasted 14 years. It reached a bilateral agreement with the United States last November, and since then with many other WTO members over the past several months.

The U.S. Congress has yet to vote on giving China a Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status. Shi said that a PNTR without any conditions is the basis and prerequisite for carrying out the China-U.S. WTO agreement, the China-US agricultural agreement included, and what the U.S. has promised.

"If the U.S. failed to do so, it would mean that it has lost a huge market and given the chances to its competitors," Shi said. "The U.S. and its companies will suffer the most."

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