China vows to keep pushing for the Doha Round trade talks and to
safeguard the multilateral trade system, Chinese finance minister
Jin Renqing told visiting WTO chief Pascal Lamy
in Beijing on Monday.
In talks with visiting World Trade Organization (WTO)
Director-General Pascal Lamy, Jin said that China would keep
contributing to the Doha talks, and pointed out that the country
has honored its WTO accession commitments by slashing tariffs and
continually opening up its markets.
Ministry of Finance stats show that tariff duties on non-farm
produce have plummeted from 42 percent in 1992 to 8.9 percent now
whilst farm produce tariffs have similarly dropped from 54 percent
to 15.3 since 2001.
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The WTO chief reiterated that the issues currently stalling the
Doha round of talks revolved around agricultural subsidies, and
tariff cuts on agricultural and non-agricultural products.
The Doha Round began in 2001 with the noble aims of boosting
global economy and helping to establish fairer trade conditions in
poor countries.
For his part, Lamy expressed his hopes to see China bring in
more flexible policies on its farm produce imports and abide by its
word in helping push forward the trade talks.
He voiced concerns about China's market access rules over
certain non-agricultural products and called for the Doha talks to
see closer cooperation between China, the United States and the
European Union.
Jin replied by saying that agricultural trade talks should be
eased since China has slashed import tariffs on farm produce
despite having a long-standing trade deficit in the area, a fact
which impacts directly on the country's 900 million rural
people.
Jin also pointed out that developed countries should take the
lead in the Doha trade talks, and that China would bolster support
for the talks amongst developing nations, particularly in terms of
the recently acceded members who have yet to feel their concerns be
properly addressed
Lamy, who arrived in Beijing on Sunday for a four-day visit,
will meet with officials from the Ministries of Commerce, Finance,
Agriculture and the Central Bank whilst also discussing the issue
of intellectual property rights.
Before leaving for China, Lamy said he would encourage China to
lead developing countries to a more active participation at the
trade talks, enabling them to be concluded within six to nine
months.
(Xinhua News Agency June 19, 2007)