Agro: WTO Opens Door to Outside

China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) will not only present challenges to the country's agricultural sector, but also invite a bumper crop of foreign investment in its huge agricultural economy.

Pan Dingyuan, an official with the Foreign Economic Co-operation Centre under the Ministry of Agriculture told China Daily in a telephone interview.

"Chinese agricultural product processing industry, an important component of the country's agricultural sector, is striving to co-operate with other countries in terms of capital and technology," Pan said.

For a long time, the low quality, shabby package and poor hygiene conditions have set barriers for China's agriculture processing products' export to the outside world and weakened its competitiveness in the domestic market.

"Small-sized producing models combined with out-dated equipment was the problem hindering the development of our agricultural product processing industry," Pan pointed out.

Upgrading the sector is also a crucial step to transition from traditional agriculture to an industrialized one in China.

Pan acknowledged China's becoming a member of WTO will inevitably strike a blow to its comparatively fragile agricultural processing product industry.

However, he was optimistic about the future, for when China is admitted to the WTO, a 135-nation trade regulation agency, the country will dramatically slash import tariffs for various farm products and change its trade and currency rules to favor foreign investment.

Such changes, Pan said, should "keep China abreast of global economic growth and drive foreign investment and technology exchange in agriculture as well as agricultural products processing sector to a new high."

Organized by Agriculture Trade Group affiliated with the Ministry of Agriculture, China Agricultural Products Processing Technology Exchange and Capital Introduction Fair is expected to be held October 13-16 this year.

As one important activity for the second session of the China Hi-Tech Fair, an annual international event for China's high-tech industry, the fair will open in Shenzhen, one of China's pioneering State-level special economic zones.

Sources from the organizing committee revealed that, until September 15, more than 50 agricultural product processing technologies, classified into 12 categories, from domestic and foreign research institutes and enterprises, have been selected to be presented at the fair.

While over 100 participants, including representatives from related Chinese enterprise and research institutes, domestic and foreign investors, advanced technology holders and processing equipment manufacturers from home and aboard, have registered for the fair. (China Daily)



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