DATE=5/19/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CHINA / EU / WTO (L)
NUMBER=2-262578
BYLINE=LETA HONG FINCHER
DATELINE=BEIJING
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: China and the European Union have reached a
trade agreement that removes the last major barrier to
China's entry to the World Trade Organization. VOA's
Leta Hong Fincher reports from Beijing, where the deal
was sealed following some last minute intervention by
a top Chinese official.
TEXT: European Union Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy
and Chinese Foreign Trade Minister Shi Guangsheng
signed the landmark trade agreement Friday evening
after five painstaking days of negotiations. Mr. Lamy
says the deal is a giant step towards China's entry to
the World Trade Organization.
///LAMY ACT///
Entry into the W-T-O is like unlocking a number
of doors. We came here this week to cut the
right key that would fit this particular
negotiating door. It has taken us some time, as
some of you will have noticed, but we have now
got the right key, it is ready to be turned, and
I am confident that the door marked WTO entry
will soon swing open.
///END ACT///
Under the European Union deal, China agreed to reduce
tariffs on more than 150 major European imports and
speed the opening of its markets to foreign
competitors. China will also improve market access in
banking, legal services, agriculture and a wide
variety of other sectors. The concessions made to the
European Union will automatically apply to
all other W-T-O members.
Mr. Lamy says the fifteen E-U member states originally
wanted far more concessions in the areas of
telecommunications, insurance and auto manufacturing.
But he says the Chinese trade negotiators made it
clear that certain things were too politically
difficult to consider.
///SECOND LAMY ACT ///
A great deal of what we have achieved has been
offered by the Chinese to compensate us for what
they were unable to deliver. It is my belief
that by spreading the improvements, as we have,
across a large number of sectors and in close
consultation with industry, we have in fact
secured a better deal for a broader range of EU
industries than if we had focused solely on
China's most politically sensitive interests.
///END ACT ///
Mr. Lamy said Chinese Vice-Premier Zhu Rongji's
eleventh hour intervention in the negotiations was
crucial to achieving a final agreement on some of the
most important remaining issues.
China must still reach separate agreements with five
W-T-O member states before it can formally enter the
global trade body.
(Signed)
NEB/LHF/KBK
19-May-2000 13:14 PM EDT (19-May-2000 1714 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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