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)