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Envoy Hopes Next China-EU Round to be Last
The European Union envoy to China said on Wednesday he was hopeful the coming round of negotiations on China's WTO entry will be the last, adding that the talks would require concessions by both sides.
"Both sides hope this will be the final round," Endymion Wilkinson told a Credit Lyonnais Securities forum in Shanghai. The EU is the last major trading partner that China has yet to reach a deal with on its World Trade Organisation entry.
EU Commissioner Pascal Lamy is due in Beijing for a round of talks next week.
Wilkinson said the EU has supported China's entry into the WTO and welcomes the bilateral deals China has concluded with other trading partners like the United States. The US reached a landmark agreement with China in November.
But the coming deal with the European Union must reflect EU priorities, Wilkinson said.
"We seek a deal that takes into account the EU's industrial and trading profile," he said.
"We have a few tariff issues to settle and in the service sector, we are looking at mostly insurance, mobile telecoms and also the issues of trading in some of the commodities currently traded by state trading monopolies," he told reporters on the sidelines of the meeting.
In sectors such as insurance and telecoms, the EU "seeks parity (with the United States) or in some cases better and more expedited access because it is in these sectors the EU is second to none," he told the forum.
"It will require concessions on both sides," he added.
The pending vote in the US Congress on permanent trade relations for China would not change the European Union's position no matter which way it goes, he said.
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