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China, EU Negotiators Set Rare Evening WTO Talks
The chief negotiators of China and the European Union agreed to meet on Thursday evening for more talks on an agreement that would take China to the verge of membership of the World Trade Organisation, an EU spokesman said Thursday in Beijing.
The ongoing negotiation has entered into the fourth day and it was the first time since the latest round of talks between the two sides began on Monday that a top-level meeting had been scheduled in the evening.
EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy and Chinese Foreign Trade Minister Shi Guangsheng were to meet at 7 p.m. (1100 GMT), EU spokesman Anthony Gooch told reporters.
"We have had technical talks and a debriefing on both sides on the results and they have considered it appropriate to meet at this level," Gooch said.
He declined to say how close the two sides were to an agreement during their fourth round of negotiations this year.
"There are a number of points of contention," Gooch said, but declined to say what they were.
After a three and a half hour session between Lamy and Shi on Thursday morning, Gooch said "there still remains a lot of work to be done."
A source close to the talks said disputes remained on mobile telecommunications services, automobile joint ventures, life insurance, distribution and retail services and on China's state trading monopolies.
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