Tortuous path to WTO membership

Date: 01/06/2000

By Shada Islam

The trade deal with the EU and the US Congress' vote on granting China permanent normal trading status brings Beijing closer than ever before to joining the Geneva-based WTO, raising hopes that the country could be part of the global trading community by the end of this year.

But much still remains to be done before the world trade body finally opens its doors to the Asian trading giant.

First, China still has to conclude bilateral market-opening deals with five countries, including Switzerland and Mexico. Chinese negotiators are expected in Geneva early next month to finalise the remaining accords.

Once these agreements are in the bag, the WTO will begin the uphill task of consolidating China's different bilateral deals into final tariff schedules for the industrial, agricultural and services sectors. These will form part of the country's protocol of accession and ensure that concessions made to the Union and the US, for instance, are available to all WTO members.

The WTO working party on China, which is expected to meet on 23 June, then has to agree on a report to be submitted to the organisation's general council which sets out - in legally binding form - China's general and specific pledges to observe WTO rules.

Still later comes work on finalising the protocol of accession itself.

Reflecting the difficulties involved in applying universal trading rules to one of the world's most complicated and largest economic systems, China's draft protocol is believed to be 11 pages long, compared to a standard one-and-a-half page for most applicants.