The World Trade Organization (WTO) is expected to praise China's trade policies in its first review of the country since it joined the organization in 2001.

"We believe the WTO will largely acknowledge China's progress in trade policies," said an official with China's commerce ministry.

"There is not supposed to be much criticism, but they are likely to make some suggestions."

The official meeting for the review was launched in Geneva on Wednesday.

The official's prediction was based on a WTO report released recently in which the organization spoke highly of China's achievements. The report said China's economic reforms had brought about a number of changes in the trade and investment policy environment.

For example, it noted that "import barriers have been reduced and investment is permitted in a larger number of sectors."

It added that lower tariffs had also been introduced for imports and certain procedures had been simplified.

Since becoming a member of the WTO, the report said, China has been "an active participant in the multilateral trading system."

China's Vice-Commerce Minister Yi Xiaozhun, who headed the Chinese delegation to the meeting, said China has comprehensively and fully implemented the extensive commitments it made when joining the WTO.

He said China's average tariff level for industrial goods had been lowered from 14.8 percent before it joined the WTO to 9.1 percent in 2005, a relatively low level for economies within the WTO.

China has opened up 10 service sectors and 100 sub-sectors, Yi added.

It has also made efforts towards intellectual property right protection, which he said was a challenge faced by many economies, even developed ones.

According to an unnamed commerce ministry official, China has so far received over 1,000 questions from trade partners.

Minutes of the official meeting, questions by WTO members and answers from China are expected to be available in around six weeks.

The review is one of the basic functions of the WTO, which aims to improve the transparency of members' trade policies.

The WTO reviews the trade policies of the top four traders every two years and looks at the next 15 most important economies every four years.

China ranked sixth in terms of imports and exports when it joined the organization, so this is the first time the country's trade policies have been reviewed.

(China Daily April 22, 2006)