Pascal Lamy: 'Coordinator' among WTO members

Chinese officials have urged the World Trade Organization (WTO) to put less pressure on China when it comes to agricultural issues during its drector-general Pascal Lamy's visit to the country.

"The Doha Development Round of trade talks (of the WTO) should not exert more pressure on agricultural issues because China has already taken the lead in liberalizing the trade," Chinese Agriculture Minister Sun Zhengcai said in a statement posted on his ministry's website meeting Lamy.

China's average tariff on farm products is about 15 percent now, while the global average is 62 percent.

Lamy, who describes himself as a "coordinator" among WTO members, said he had noticed that China's average tariff on agricultural products is lower compared to many developing countries and even lower than some developed ones. But he said some negotiators want China to reduce its tariff further in sectors where they think "it's still higher".

"The failure of the Doha round will be very bad news for China," just like its success will be very good news for it, Lamy said. That's because the success of the Doha round will reduce industrial tariff subsidies among WTO members.

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The Doha round was launched in 2001 to boost the global economy and help poor countries. The talks have been stalled mainly because of sharp differences over major issues, such as agriculture subsidies and agricultural and industrial tariffs.

Despite the differences, Lamy is hopeful WTO members will contribute to the trade talks to enable the Doha round to be concluded by the end of this year or early next year.

Lamy has met with Chinese officials of the finance and agriculture ministries and the central bank during the past two days. He is scheduled to meet commerce minister Bo Xilai and address the Party School of the Communist Party of China's Central Committee today.

His visit to China coincides with a meeting in Germany of representatives of the United States, the European Union, India and Brazil, aimed at breaking the deadlock in the Doha round of talks.