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China, US Reach Consensus on WTO Remaining Issues
China and the US have reached full consensus on the remaining issues concerning the multi-lateral talks on China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Shi Guangsheng, Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, said this in response to a question raised by Xinhua.
The issue of China's WTO entry figured prominently in corridor talks at the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum trade ministers' meeting in Shanghai earlier this week.
Foreign Trade Minister Shi met US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick on Tuesday, and on Wednesday WTO director general Mike Moore said it would be a "failure" if a new round of global trade talks got underway without China's participation.
More than a year after China signed bilateral agreements with the United States and the European Union, there is so far been no timetable for when China can bring its 15-year quest to enter the trade organization to a conclusion.
China and the United States have been locked in discussions about the level of agricultural subsidies that China will be allowed to grants its farmers once it has entered the WTO.
Mexico remains as the only WTO member not to have signed a bilateral trade deal with China.
A formal working party charged with guiding China's bid to join the WTO is to meet in Geneva at the end of the month.
The meeting, expected to run from June 28 to July 4, will be the working party's first at the WTO headquarters since January, when discussions snagged over the issues of agriculture and services.
In particular, China wants to be considered within the global trade body as a developing country when it comes to rules on agricultural domestic support, which would allow it to subsidise up to 10 percent of the value of production.
Beijing subsidises about two percent but wants the option to go higher.
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