China to Further Cut Tariffs for Agricultural, Industrial Goods

Chen Deming, China's Minister of Commerce held a meeting in Beijing on July 21 with visiting WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy on the Doha round of trade talks. China will further reduce tariffs for agricultural products and industrial goods by around 30 percent, according to some agreement already reached.

In the field of services trade, China has opened more than 100 of the 160 categories of the services sectors, and has promised to open 11 more, said today's Shanghai Securities News.

Chen iterated China's firm support for the Doha round negotiation. "To push forward negotiations, WTO members should seize the opportunity of the 2011 Doha round of talks, optimize the negotiation results and seek breakthroughs based on concrete proposals," he said.

Lamy said the Doha round started nearly 9 years ago, and it will impact WTO’s credibility if the agreements cannot be reached in 2011. Therefore, every member is expected to make joint efforts, push negotiations to make substantive progress and send positive signals through the G20 Seoul Summit to win more political supports for the Doha round of talks.

Since its entry into the WTO in December 2001, China has seized opportunities and actively participated in the multilateral trading regime. For the past nine years, China has abided by WTO rules, lived up to the extensive commitments it has made and made comprehensive adjustment to its trade regime and trade policy, which has won admiration and approval of WTO members and the international community.

As of 2010, China has implemented all commitments it made upon entry into the WTO, established an economic and trade regime consistent with prevailing international rules and become one of the most open markets in the world.