Moore welcomes China-EU agreement on Chinese accession to WTO

06/22/2001

World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Mike Moore praised Chinese and EU negotiation for reaching agreement on unresolved bilateral issues concerning China's accession to the WTO.

In a statement released in Geneva Thursday, Moore congratulated Chinese Trade Minister Shi Guangsheng, EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy and their respective negotiating teams for bringing China a significant step closer to membership in the WTO.

"The EU-China accord is another step towards China's membership in our organization. This together with the US-China agreement reached earlier in the month has given China's bid for membership new momentum. I remain hopeful that a decision can be take on China's membership at our Ministerial Conference in Doha, Qatar this November," Moore said.

The director-general again urged all governments participating in the Working Party on China's accession to make every effort to resolve outstanding matters when they meet in Geneva from June 28 to July 4.