China acknowledges non-marketing status given by Pakistan
Pakistan Times Business & Commerce Desk

BEIJING (China): China acknowledges the non-market economy status given to it, by Pakistan and other countries.

It facilitates the country settling its foreign trade disputes, said Chinese Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai in an interview with People’s Daily.

China made major progress in solving the “non-market economy status” problem, he said adding, the Party and state leaders have attached great importance to it.

While reviewing China’s achievements during 2004, he said 37 countries including Pakistan have acknowledged the status of China’s market economy.

What have also been set to motion are the tariff alliance consisting of China and some other countries. In this connection, he referred to proposed negotiation on Free Trade Agreement (FTA), with various countries including Pakistan.

The development of China’s foreign trade faces arduous tasks of changing the method of growth and enhancing the core competitiveness of industry and product, he said adding “Chinese enterprises have made remarkable achievements in implementing the “going global” strategy, further widening the space for China’s economic development and accelerating common development.

Along with the rise of China’s trade status in the international arena, China has entered the period of frequent occurrence of trade frictions, which calls for our high attention and positive measures to cope with this situation.

China’s foreign economic and trade work has witnessed new progress this year, total import and export volume will top US$1.1 trillion, making China hopefully to leap to the third place in the world, the Minister added.

It is estimated that China’s contribution to the growth of global barter trade will amount to 12 percent this year. Some relevant international organizations predict that the world economy will grow by 4.3 percent, and world trade volume by 7.2 percent next year, a year of rapid growth.

Mr. Bo said, the good momentum of China’s national economic development and the positive results achieved in its macro-control will provide favourable conditions for China’s foreign trade development.

However, “we still face many uncertain factors, particularly the continued rise of oil price, the increasing trade protective measures and the fluctuation of exchange rates of major currencies, he added.●