WTO Chief Expects China's Entry into WTO before Year EndDirector General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Mike Moore affirmed on Tuesday that China will join the WTO within this year as the remaining technical problems are to be resolved.Moore, who is in Lome attending the 36th summit of the Organization of the African Unity (OAU) as an observer, told a press conference that as a big power, China will play an important role in the WTO once its membership is obtained. "There are just some technical problems. I've seen no great problems of principle. I'm hopeful this will be done this year before the new year, not the Chinese new year," he said. Moore said that besides China, Chinese Taipei, Jordan, Georgia, Latvia, Croatia and Oman will also join WTO this year. "Many countries want to join the WTO because globalization is a reality," he said. On the relations between the WTO and African countries, Moore said that WTO has been making efforts to prevent Africans from being marginalized in the economic globalization, because 41 of the 137 WTO members are from Africa. "Singapore has attracted more investment than the whole Africa," he said. "Nobody says this (trade) system is fair or perfect, we need to find the right way to improve it." According to Moore, the WTO this year negotiated with the developed countries over a wider access to the products from the least developed countries. But he also urged the Africans to increase their competitiveness. The African leaders are here considering the Draft Constitutive Act of the African Union initiated during an extraordinary summit on September 9, 1999 in Sirte, Libya and the Draft Protocol to the Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community relating to the Pan-African Parliament. They are also debating the Decisions and Recommendations of the 71st and 72nd Ordinary sessions of the Council of Ministers and Regulations of the 6th and 7th Ordinary sessions of the African Economic Community. Founded on May 25, 1963, the OAU is designated to promote the unity and solidarity of the African states, defend the sovereignty,territorial integrity and independence of members, coordinate and intensify the cooperation and efforts to achieve a better life for the people of Africa. Following eradicating all forms of colonialism from Africa, the organization has been focused on peace and development in an effort to reverse the growing marginalization of Africa in economic globalization. |
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