Chinese envoy calls for sense of urgency on WTO early harvest agreement

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Chinese envoy calls for sense of urgency on WTO early harvest agreement

(Xinhua) 18:53, October 25, 2013

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BRUSSELS, Oct. 25 -- A senior Chinese official has called for more "sense of urgency" and "more flexibility" to complete negotiations on a World Trade Organization (WTO) "early harvest" agreement.

China International Trade Representative Zhong Shan made the remarks in a written response to media questions after the fourth China-EU High Level Economic and Trade Dialogue, held on Oct. 24 in Brussels.

"We need to enhance our sense of urgency and demonstrate more flexibility in order to complete the substantive negotiations on the early harvest agreement before the forthcoming 9th Ministerial Conference of the WTO," Zhong said.

"Early harvest" refers to the reduction of tariffs on some products prior to the conclusion of a full-fledged trade agreement.

As important WTO members, China and the EU should inject political impetus into the negotiations and work together with other members to ensure its conclusion at the conference, Zhong said.

Zhong set out three principles that negotiators should stick to if they want to conclude the negotiations on time.

"First, they should not challenge the bottom lines of participating countries in order to seize this good opportunity. Second, they should not add new difficult issues to delay negotiations. Third, they should fully demonstrate flexibility and seek compromise and reasonable landing zone," he said.

"So long as these principles are followed, it is not difficult to conclude the negotiations," he said.

Zhong also said the early harvest agreement is not the end of the Doha Round negotiations, and called for earnest efforts to work out a plan to conclude the Doha Round negotiations.

China is always a strong supporter of the multilateral trading system, Zhong said. "We believe that the evolving regional and bilateral trade arrangements are a good supplement to the multilateral trading system," he said.

"China welcomes these arrangements, and, at the same time, believes these arrangements should not replace the multilateral trading system with the WTO at the center," Zhong said.

（Editor：DuMingming、Zhang Qian）