Premier Zhu Urges Early Conclusion of Sino-EU Agreement on China's Entry into WTO

Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji Monday urged an early conclusion of Sino-EU agreement on China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO).

During his talks with visiting Danish Prime Minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, Zhu said that negotiations concerning China's WTO entry have entered the final stage, and that Trade Commissioner of the European Commission Pascal Lamy has decided to come to China on May 15 for a new round of talks.

"We hope to finish all the negotiations and relevant procedures as soon as possible, and we would not like to see that the European Union (EU) will be the last to reach an agreement with China in this regard," Zhu said.

Rasmussen said that Denmark firmly supports China's entry into the WTO at an early date, and would like to continue our efforts within the EU to promote EU to reach an agreement with China.

China and the EU held three rounds of talks earlier this year, one in Brussels and two in Beijing.

EU was China's third largest trading partner last year. Two-way trade volume hit 55.7 billion US dollars in 1999, up 14 percent from a year ago. China was the fourth largest trading partner of the EU.



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