EU leader seeks more progress
The president of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, yesterday outlined the barriers to China gaining market-economy status from the EU.
He said the biggest concerns were China's service and banking sectors, ensuring non-discriminatory practices towards foreign companies, and the treatment of intellectual property rights.
Mr Barroso said the mainland must fulfil certain conditions to qualify for the favourable status but that the issues were many and technical.
'I am hopeful that we can find a pragmatic way to grant market economy status to China,' he said.
He was in Hong Kong on the last leg of a four-day visit to China, which included stopovers in Beijing, Shanghai and Macau.
Mr Barroso, who became the EU leader last November, said the pace of global trade talks needed to quicken, because 'not much was achieved' in the past year.
'We are ready to go ahead but we want everybody to go, too. If we get things moving, then the WTO ministerial conference in Hong Kong will be a success,' he said.
Mr Barroso and Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen said both the European Union and Hong Kong were hoping that the conference would pave the way for the successful conclusion of the Doha Development Round.
