World Trade Organization (WTO) Director General Pascal Lamy expressed appreciation for China's support for the least developed countries (LDCs) in a meeting with Chinese Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai on Thursday in Hong Kong. He also urged China to take a more active role in the ongoing 6th WTO Ministerial Conference meetings.

China supports immediate duty-free and quota-free market access to LDCs and has urged that developing countries be given special treatment when they open their markets.

The Chinese delegation also participated in discussions of the G20 and G33 groups of developing countries and conducted multilateral negotiations on issues including non-agricultural market access, services trade and special treatment for new members.

In another development, the United States has acknowledged China's achievements in implementing its commitments to the World Trade Organization (WTO), according to the latest report published by the United States Trade Representative (USTR).

It covers nine broad categories of WTO commitments undertaken by China.

It said China has eliminated some trade barriers and has started to even out unequal treatment. Additionally, it has further opened the service market and strengthened the liberalization of bilateral and multilateral trade since it entered the WTO.

With regard to the intellectual property rights issue, which remains a key concern of the US government, the report said that China has made significant efforts to establish a legal framework to protect IPR in accordance with the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights.

"China has done a relatively good job of overhauling the legal regime," the report commented.
 
(China Daily December 16, 2005)