A World Trade Organisation (WTO) working party gave formal backing yesterday to China's entry to the body, rubber-stamping a deal struck by negotiators.
A WTO special negotiating group, which had been bargaining with China since 1986, approved on Saturday an 800-page package of terms and conditions, clearing the way for the communist-ruled giant to join later this year.
After yesterday's approval of the deal by a full meeting of the working party - made up largely of the same people who clinched Saturday's deal - entry of the world's fifth largest economy into the trade body should be set in stone at a ministerial meeting scheduled for Qatar in November.
Speaking after the meeting, the WTO's spokesman Mr Keith Rockwell said members of the 142-state trade body attending the meeting have approved the necessary documents for China's accession.
Referring to the long years of talks, Beijing's chief negotiator Long Yongtu told the meeting: "A 15-year process is a blink of the eye in the 5,000-year history of China."
The entry package includes detailed terms under which China guarantees to admit foreign goods and services as well as outside firms.
The EU Trade Commissioner, Mr Pascal Lamy, said the decision to recommend China's membership to the WTO represented "a much-needed boost of confidence" to the WTO system.
Mr Lamy said the 15-nation European Union welcomed the working-party agreement in Geneva.
"It is very satisfying to see over 15 years of hard work bear fruit," he added in a statement.
"The WTO is about binding countries peacefully together through close trading links in a multilateral system," Mr Lamy said.
"At this difficult time, the important work concluded today in Geneva provides this system and us all with a much-needed boost of confidence and hope for the future," he said.
Mr Lamy saluted Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji and Trade Minister Zhi Guangsheng for what he called "their unwavering commitment to the huge challenge" of brining China into the WTO fold.
