06/25/2001

A Chinese delegation has flown to Switzerland for key talks with World Trade Organization members in an effort to thrash out plans for the country's entry into the economic super-group.

They left Beijing for Geneva on Saturday to attend the 16th conference of the China Working Group of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The delegation is composed of 30 officials from the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Co-operation (MOFTEC), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the State Economic and Trade Commission, the China Insurance Regulatory Commission, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, the General Administration of Customs and the Ministry of Agriculture.

Led by Long Yongtu, chief negotiator at MOFTEC, it will sit down with some WTO members in a bid to resolve the remaining issues in the multi-lateral process concerning China's WTO entry. That will pave the way for an early ending of the substantial talks on China's WTO accession.

The Chinese delegation will then attend the conference, scheduled for June 28-July 4.

Long told Xinhua before leaving Beijing that the delegation has always considered all WTO members are equally important in terms of negotiations and China respects the stance and demand of every WTO member.

Most WTO members hope that China can become a full member before the trade ministers' meeting of WTO members in Doha, Qatar, in November this year, and China also holds a "positive attitude" towards that, he added.

China reached full consensus with the United States earlier this month in Shanghai on all the issues left in the multi-lateral process concerning its bid to enter the WTO. And it reached full consensus on all issues with the European Union this week.