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WTO States Set September Talks on China Entry
Member countries of the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreed on Friday to aim to wrap up negotiations on China's entry to the body at a session of talks in Geneva in September.
Pierre-Louis Girard, Swiss chairman of the WTO working party on Chinese admission, told a news conference that the meeting would be held in the week starting September 10.
He was speaking after nearly a month of discussions had all but finalised texts of key documents on the terms under which China would come into the 141-member body 15 years after it applied.
Girard said he hoped the September session would be the final one of his working party.
"If we can keep to this tight schedule....ministers should then be able to gavel the terms of China's entry into the WTO at Doha this coming November," he said.
Ministers from all WTO countries and the some 30 waiting in the queue to join meet in the Qatari capital from November 9 to 13. If they approve the entry package negotiated in Geneva, China could expect to become a member early next year.
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