China's long-expected accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) is nearing completion, but it is up to member economies instead of China alone to decide on the exact timetable, Shi Guangsheng, minister of foreign trade and economic cooperation, said Tuesday.

It depends, especially, on the political will of major developed countries, Shi said. He reiterated that "China’s persistent stance and efforts to join the WTO remain unchanged,” adding that "China has all along been working hard to join the organization at the earliest possible date."

Shi made the remarks at a press conference held here by the ongoing session of the National People's Congress.

All the member economies and their business circles are looking forward to China's entry into the WTO in order to enjoy the benefits promised by China, and China has basically completed all bilateral negotiations with other member economies, and signed agreements, he said.

Shi said that there are still several issues unsolved, such as the implementation of agreements on agriculture and industrial subsidies and market accession to certain service trades.

"The difficulties in resolving these problems mainly come from some member economies that have asked for so high a price that it has gone beyond the reach of China as a developing country," he said.

"Demands that have not been satisfied in bilateral talks cannot be met in multilateral talks, either," Shi told the press conference.

(Xinhua 03/13/2001)