Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Mike Moore said Monday in a message to China's WTO Research Institute that China's membership in the WTO will be of "immense importance."

The director-general sent the message on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the WTO Research Institute, China's leading WTO research body. He said he is looking forward beyond that to many more years of cooperation between the research institute and the WTO secretariat.

Shen Jueren, former vice-minister of foreign trade and chief negotiator for China's re-entry into the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the predecessor of the WTO, said at a gathering marking the 10th anniversary of the research institute that relevant members of the WTO should not block China's entry to the WTO.

"In the history of GATT and WTO, there is no example of a country's bid for re-entry and entry lasting for 15 years," he said. "We hope China can join the WTO as early as possible, and we urge some developed WTO members not to block China's entry by putting forward unrealistic high demands because China is still a developing country."

Another former chief negotiator Gu Yongjiang said China's bid to enter the WTO is punctuated by the country's reform and opening to the outside process. A full membership will enable the country to opening wider to the outside world and assist the growth of world trade and economy, he said.

Timothy Neely, first secretary of the US Embassy in China, said the US hopes to see a modernized, advanced and rich China, and therefore it supports and wishes an early accession of the country into the WTO.

A fourth seminar on the WTO, which attracted more than 50 people from government departments, economic research institutes and entrepreneurs, also began in Beijing Monday. Participants of the three-week workshop will be familiarized with major principles and agreements of the WTO.

(Xinhua 05/21/2001)