E-Commerce Firms Support China Accession to WTOA group of leaders of transnational e-commerce corporations who met in New York Thursday, voiced their support for China's accession to the World Trade Organization, seeing it beneficial to businesses in China and elsewhere.Some 60 CEOs of the companies from around the world are of the view that e-commerce in China has a bright future and they believe that once China joins WTO, the e-commerce business will grow faster. The business chiefs want to "see tangible results" from bilateral negotiations between China and the European Union and call on U.S. Congress to give permanent normal trade relations status to China, a statement issued after the meeting said. The companies formed a forum last year called the Global Business Dialogue on Electronic Commerce GBDe) to promote the industry and deal with issues facing it. Its position on china was unanimous, GBDe co-chairman and chairman and CEO of America Online Gerald Levin told a news conference. Internet penetration in China doubled in the last six months of 1999 alone and China is expected to have the second largest number of Internet users worldwide early 21st century, the meeting was told. The meeting also reviewed GBDe's work to bolster consumer confidence in the e-commerce industry and endorsed initiatives to reduce obstacles to global e-commerce in several service sectors such as advertising, telecommunications, financial services and package delivery. GBDe's members include CEOs of leading U.S. media and technology firms such as AOL, Time Warner, Hewlett-Packard, and telecommunications companies in Germany and France and Japanese corporations such as Sharp, Fujitsu, Toshiba and NEC. |
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