Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Pascal Lamy on Monday hailed China's performance since its entry into WTO in 2001.

 

Wang Jiarui, head of the International Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, met with Lamy on Monday.

 

"Lamy fully appreciates China's overall performance since it entered the WTO in 2001 and its great contribution to world trade prosperity and stability," according to a statement issued by the CPC International Department.

 

Thanks to Lamy's leadership, the WTO has been committed to building a fair and sound world trade system, Wang said.

 

Lamy briefed Wang on WTO's priority and the progress of the Doha round of trade talks.

 

Wang was among a series of officials Lamy expected to meet during his four-day China tour.

 

Lamy will meet with officials from the ministries of commerce, finance, agriculture, and the central bank.

 

Lamy's China visit is widely seen as efforts to revive the stalled Doha round of trade talks. In an interview prior to his China visit, Lamy said he would tell Chinese officials that developing countries should also contribute to the trade talks so they can be concluded in the next six to nine months.

 

"Obviously, all countries are preparing for a possible compromise ... and I want to make sure that as we reach this crunch time, China can preserve its defenses and offences in the negotiations," Lamy said.

 

Next week representatives of the US, the EU, India and Brazil will meet in Germany to discuss possible compromise solutions to the Doha talks.

 

The Doha round of trade talks was launched in 2001 with the goal of boosting the global economy and helping poor countries through fairer trade conditions. The talks have stalled mainly because of sharp differences over agriculture subsidies and tariffs.

 

Lamy said the talks need to be finished by the end of the year or early next year, and to do that WTO members must first reach an interim agreement on cutting agriculture subsidies, agriculture tariffs and industrial tariffs in the next few weeks.

 

(Xinhua News Agency June 19, 2007)