US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick said after meeting with Chinese top leaders in Beijing Thursday that his visit to China has been productive.  

China is Zoellick's second stop during his trip around the world for "strategic dialogue with key partners on the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) negotiations of the World Trade Organization (WTO)," after Japan.

During his 20-hour visit to China, the US top trade envoy met with Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi and Vice Minister of Commerce Yu Guangzhou.

Zoellick said he wanted it to be clear he came to Beijing because while China is a recent member of the WTO, it is already a major trading player and one of the key areas of growth of the world.

"Even though my Chinese counterparts understand and are fully engaged in WTO implementation and efforts related to that, I still want to discuss with them to seek help and cooperation in moving the DDA forward," said Zoellick at a news briefing held by the US Embassy in China.

Zoellick said he came away with the sense that "China has a very strong commitment to the DDA" and they talked about ways to work together.

China and the United States have a number of overlapping interests such as agriculture, manufacturing goods area and services, he said, adding that the two countries agreed to have more dialogues at different items and they are looking forward to working together with other countries.

Zoellick recalled his letter to 146 of his WTO ministerial colleagues in January to encourage reassessment of the DDA after the breakdown in Cancun, Mexico.

In the letter, Zoellick suggested people come to a conclusion that "the breakdown of Cancun is a lost opportunity" and "the United States does not want 2004 to be a lost year."

He said his trip provides his ideas to his counterparts by contacting with them directly. He was pleased to get a better sense of his counterparts' ideas on what are their interests in the DDA and what are their ways to push the DDA forward.

He said he tried to ask them what other things the United States might do and what they might do to bring the progress of the DDA forward.

According to the US Embassy in China, Zoellick will continue his trip to Singapore, where he will meet ministers from the Association of South East Asian Nations. While there he will also meet with ministers from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Following Singapore, Zoellick will continue through South Asia, Africa and Europe before returning home.

The goal of the DDA is to reduce trade barriers so as to expand global economic growth, development and opportunity.

(Xinhua News Agency February 13, 2004)