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
.