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)
