 |
December 2005 marked the 4th anniversary of China's entry to the World Trade Organization (WTO). In those four years, the Chinese government fulfilled all its undertakings, drastically reducing import tariffs, canceling non-tariff measures, and perfecting its law system, all the while carrying out functional transformation of the government and enhancing policy transparency. China has smoothly passed two WTO transitional trade policy reviews and received wide approval from the international community. During the WTO Mini-Ministerial Meeting in Dalian in July 2005, progress was finally gained in identifying the topics for Doha Round negotiations and 35 ministers from 31 member countries all reaffirmed that the Doha Development Agenda should be completed by the end of 2006. This has been the first time for China to hold such meeting, showing that China is actively participating in formulating international trade regulations. In December, more than 5,800 representatives of 149 WTO member countries and over 2,000 of non-governmental organizations attended the 6th WTO Ministerial Meeting in Hong Kong, China. With concerted efforts of China's central government, the government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and other WTO members, the meeting achieved positive results, setting deadlines for canceling export subsidies for agricultural products, and reaching an agreement on exemption of the least developed countries from tariffs and quota limits. In addition, developed countries agreed to eliminate export subsidy for cotton in 2006.
