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Flexibility Needed for China's WTO Entry Talks: EU negotiatorPascal Lamy, EU trade commissioner and chief negotiator with China, told the press that he briefed the EU foreign ministers during their monthly council meeting about his Beijing trip and the four-day negotiations that ended without reaching a deal.He said that the foreign ministers believed that it is of extreme importance to get China into the World Trade Organization. When asked whether he, as chief negotiator, felt the pressure from the pending vote in the United States Congress concerning the US-China trade deal, Lamy said that the EU is following the development in the United States closely but will have its own decision. The EU will not adopt a position which will have to depend on a yes or no vote in the US congress. "We cannot be dependent on that," he said. He declined to discuss whether he can be more flexible the next time he is in Beijing. But he stressed that the EU would stick to its position though flexibility is being considered now.When answering how long it will take to complete China's WTO accession negotiation, Lamy said, "the sooner the better." It is of mutual interest to have China in the world trade global arbitrating organization, he said. An EU statement last week described Lamy's negotiations in Beijing as "a certain narrowing of differences on the outstanding issues under negotiation." The EU and China have held three rounds of negotiations so far this year, with the previous two rounds in January and February in Brussels and Beijing respectively. Meanwhile, Lamy said Monday he would return to Beijing to resume trade talks on China's entry into the World Trade Organization only "when the time is right". Lamy said: "I have no fixed date, no time frame, but I have flexibility to decide myself when to return, in concert with my Chinese counterparts."
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