China hopes major developed members of the World Trade Organization
will seriously consider reasonable demands from developing members,
said Minister of Commerce Lu Fuyuan Monday in Beijing.
Lu
made the remark at the opening ceremony of a WTO training program for Asia and
Pacific senior government officials, the first WTO regional
activity undertaken by China.
China is worried about the imbalance in the new round of
multilateral trade negotiations, he said.
Some negotiations closely related to the interests of developing
countries, such as those on public health and intellectual property
rights and on special and discriminating treatments, did not go off
as planned, he said.
The new round of negotiations will reportedly be evaluated at a WTO
ministerial-level meeting in Mexico in September 2003, and
launching of talks on other topics will be decided there.
China hopes major developed members will take a responsible
attitude towards the reasonable demands of developing members and
make contributions to a balanced overall agreement in Mexico this
year, he said.
China wishes to enhance exchanges between its economy and the world
economy through participating the new round of multilateral trade
negotiations, he said, noting that China shares the same interests
and stances with other developing countries on many issues, and is
willing to safeguard common interests with them within the WTO
framework.
Senior trade officials from 22 WTO members and observers attended
the 12-day training program, which was jointly held by the Ministry
of Commerce, the WTO Secretariat, the UN Economic and Social
Commission for Asia and the Pacific and Beijing University.
Program participants will analyze the new round of negotiations and
exchange their views, said WTO Deputy Director-General Kipkorir Aly
Azad Rana at the opening ceremony.
(Xinhua News Agency March 31, 2003)